Wfc 9 & wi i jtx I EDITORS -01 " : ft* Class ^JjL&>/ Book ConyiightN?.. - C -T CCPYRJGHT DEPOSIT. THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS EDITORIALS REPRINTED FROM THE EVENING MAIL OF NEW YORK CITY PUBLISHED BY THE NEW YORK EVENING MAIL 1916 .1 7 " We will never bring disgrace to this our city by any act off dishonesty or cowardice, nor ever desert our suffer- ing comrades in the ranks. We will fight for the ideals and sacred things of the city, both alone and with many; we will revere and obey the city's laws and do our best to incite a like respect and reverence in those above us who are prone to annul or set them at naught; we will strive unceasingly to quicken the public's sense of civic duty. Thus in all these ways we will transmit this city not only not less but greater, better and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us." — Oath of the Young Men of Athens COPYRIGHT. 1916 EDWARD A. RUMELY / THE TROW PRES9 NEW YORK NOV 10 1916 CU446302 CONTENTS Causes of the War 7 Issues of International Law 23 The Submarine Issue 48 The British Blockade 70 The Freedom of the Seas 137 Mail Seizures 150 The British Black List 165 Ship Seizures 172 Red Cross 180 Humanity and Atrocity 182 Greece 190 Poland 109 The War in the West 203 The War in the East 211 The Italian Front 218 In the Balkans 221 The Dardanelles 240 The War in Asia Minor 243 The Naval War 249 Finances of the Belligerents 256 Conditions in Allied Countries 267 Conditions in Central Powers 285 Conditions in Neutral Countries 294 Peace 301 Nationalism and Internationalism 325 Mexico 332 <] a pan 389 Our Foreign Trade 409 Trade War, After the War 420 Merchant Marine 432 A Protective Tariff 489 American Preparedness 494 Army 512 The Garrison Plan 515 Universal Service 519 The Navy 530 Industrial Preparedness in General 537 Manufacturing Preparedness 545 Transportation Preparedness 560 Our Finances 563 Americanism 572 Political Issues, Autumn, 1916 595 Editorials in this book that express the viewpoint of Mr. S. S. McClure bear his signature. PREFACE The year since September, 1915, has been the most momen- tous in our history since the Civil War. All in all, it is probably the most vital year in the history of this world in which we live. In the year since September, 1915, great changes have occurred in our national life. Great problems have pressed, and still press, for solution. "We have with us Mexico, Japan, Germany, Great Britain, to say nothing of the vast duty of preparing and nationalizing America. Peace is coming. We must cast the weight of America, for America, into that great equilibrium that will be called peace terms. And after peace, what? No administration, Republican or Democratic, can solve these problems alone. In a democracy the determination of the nation's destiny may seem to be in the hands of its govern- ment. In reality, if the people be awake, that government's action can be nothing but an echo of the people's will, which we call public opinion. But there can be no clear voice of public opinion, the composite of our individual wills, unless we clarify our own opinions on these great matters. Out of muddy, care- less thinking by the citizen will come muddy, careless policies by the nation. America today needs preparedness, above all the prepared- ness of intelligence. No citizen dares shirk the duty of honest thinking. The editorials, here reprinted without alteration, represent the stand which the Evening Mail took upon the great issues of the present and the future — our stand as taken on the days when those issues arose. Only the question of international policies which were acute in the year September, 1915, to September, 1916, are treated. Hence the omission of the vital problem of Belgium. September 24, 1916. Causes Of the War WHOSE IS THE GUILT FOR THE EUROPEAN WAR? r.v s. s. HoOli i r i The Danger Spot in Europe; Data on the Mobilization of RuH«ia On July 84, L014, Sir Edward Grey put In ftnger on khe danger spot 111 his di ipatch bo the ESngli h embassy in Berlin : "I iaid that if the An I rian ulti matura to Serbia confirm the previou evidero i Sir Edward Grey to Sir Q, Bucha/n mi, British Ambassador at 8t. Petersburg, Foreign ( >\\<< r , JuVy IS L914: "The : udden, bru que and per emptory character of the An itrian demarche mal es it almo t inevitable that in ■> rery short time bol h Rn i.i and An ti is will have mobilized again I each other." Sir Edward Orey to 8tr n Bum bold, British Charge d'A li">" ai, r.rriu,, July 85, L914: "Apparently w<- shall boh oon be face to face with the mobilize tion of An 1 1 ia and Ru ia The only chance of peace, if • hi ihould happen, would (><• u,i- Germany, France Ru ia j hould be [taly) and "in el ■ '• to I eep together, and to join in a king An tria and Ru ia ii'.i to cro the frontier till had had time to try and arrange matters between them." The Briti ih amba ador at St,. Peter burg a eai ly b •' ul ■ irned the minister of foreign ;if fair that if Rti ia mobilized G< man} would not be content with mere mobiliation or give Ru lia time s THE GRAVEST 366 PAYS to carry our hers, but would prob- ably declare war ai once. — British White roper. July 85. Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs to Russian Ambassador at Paris, July 89, 1914: "As wo cannot comply with the wishes of Germany, wo have no al- ternative but to hasten our own mili- tary preparations and to assume that war is probably inevitable." On July -29 the St. Petersburg correspondent of the Temps tele- graphed that "mobilization is pro- ceeding in Kieff, Odessa. Vilna. Warsaw and St. Petersburg." The last three military areas are in the region of the German frontier. Telegram from the Kaiser to King George. July 31, from the "XorJ - Deutsche AUgemeine Zeitung" for August '20: "Many thanks for your friendly communication. Your proposals agree with my ideas and with the information which I have received to-night from Vienna and which I send on to London. I have just learned through the imperial chan- cellor that he has received the in- formation that the Czar this eve- ning ordered the mobilization of all his army and navy. He has not even waited for the result of the in- tervention on which I have been en- gaged and has left me entirely with- out information. I am going to Ber- lin to take measures for the safe- guarding of my eastern frontiers, where numerous Russian troops have already assembled." Ton Bethmann-Holheeg in Reichs- tag, July 31 : "The Russian government de- stroyed through its mobilization, menacing the security of our coun- try, the laborious action at media- tion of the European cabinets, just as ii was on the point of succeed- ing. The St. Petersburg newspapers for August 1 published the follow- ing official statement, which defi- nite)- announced the time and place of assembly for the reservists, in the following words: "His majesty the emperor de- crees herewith that the army and navy shall be brought to a full war footing. First day of mobilization, July 81, 1914." Summarizing these dispatches, it may be said that the decision of Russia to mobilize partially was taken on the 84th, directly after presentation of the Austrian note to Serbia. This was continued on the 85th, and during the week-end all military preparations except the calling up of reservists were made, and partial mobilization orders were signed but not issued. British 117/ ite Paper, July 31: "Von Bethmann-Hollweg told Sir Edward Goschen, the British ambas- sador to Germany, that he could not leave his country defenseless while time was being utilized by other pow- ers ; and that if military measures were being taken by Russia against Germany also, it would be impos- sible for him to remain quietly. The chancellor added that the news of the active preparations on the Busso- German frontier had reached him just when the Czar had appealed to the Emperor, in the name of their old friendship, to mediate at Vi- enna, and when the Emperor was actually conforming to that re- quest." CAUSES OF THE WAR 9 Speech of the Imperial Chancellor before the German Reichstag on August i, 1914: "Russia 1 1 a ~ get fire to the build- ing. We are at war with Russia and Prance -a war thai has been forced upon us. * * * From the first, moment of tin: Austro-Ser- bian conflict we declared that this question mud be Limited to Austria- Hungary and Serbia, and we worked witli Hue end in new. All govern- ments, especially that of Great Brit- ain, took the same attitude. Russia alone asserted thai -Ik; had to be heard in the settlement of this mat- ter. "Accumulation of troop-; on the East Prussian frontier and the deelaration of the state of war all over important parts of til- : ian west frontier allowed no further doubt that the Russian mobiliation was in full swing against as, while simultaneously all such measui were denied to our representative in St. Petersburg on word of honor. "Nay, even before the reply from Vienna regarding the Anglo-Ger- man mediation, whose tendencies and basis must have been known in St. Petersburg, could possibly have Ik-cm received in Berlin, Russia or- dered a general mobilization." DIPLOMACY MOTHER OF WARS A glance at the workings of Eu- ropean diplomacy in a Bingle phase of the present great struggle dis- closes the part which the errors of diplomatist- hare played in the ries of events that have culminated in this super- war. At the congress of Berlin, in 1878, Great Britain, with the back- in;.' of Bismarck and of Andrac the Austro-Hungarian minister foreign affairs, imposed a veto upon the task which had been accom- plished on the battlefield by Russia. This task wa€ the creation of an independent Bulgaria, to include Macedonia and the- province known .) Eastern Roumelia. Britain op- posed the carrying out of the treaty of San Stefano, which gave -Miction to the creation of a strong uniting the entire Bulgarian race, on the ground that ;i great Bul- garia would operate, in effect, as an advance posl for the Russian march to Constantinople and the Darda- nelles. The new Bulgaria was disn bered at its birth. A small tribu- tary principality, under the suzer- ainty of Turkey, was created along the -out hern bank of the Danube. Eastern Roumelia was constituted an autonomous province under a Turkish governor. A feat of di- plomacy was undone in 1885 by the people of Eastern Roumelia, who erased the frontier which chancel i' had drawn, and joined their blood- brothers of the Bulgarian principal 1 ' ity. Macedonia was thrust back un- der the full power of Turkey, and paper guarantee- of reform- which never were put into effect. The first Balkan war con-tit an attempt by Bulgaria, in alliai with it- neighbors, to accomplish the task of driving out the Turk which had been achieved by Russia and nullified by the congress of Ber- lin. If there had been no treaty of Berlin, there would have been no fir-t Balkan war. [f there had be no first Balkan war, there would have been no second Balkan war for the division of the territory which 10 THE GRAYEST 366 PAYS had boon assigned to Bulgaria under the treaty of San Stefano. One oi the immediate results of the second Balkan war was the rise of Serbian nationalism, stimulated by the Serbian successes in that con- flict and reinforced by Russian ac- tivities at Belgrade. Out ot* that na- tionalism rose, as history now has duly recordedj the spark that sot the world on fire. When some understanding and dispassionate mind of the future shall have summed up in their true relation the events that brought on the monstrous period through which the world is passing, the terrible balance oi criminality will be found to lie. not in the passions of peoples. but in the blunders of diplomats — blunders that have deluged Europe with the blood of its strongest, its noblest, its best. — Nov. 18, 1915. A VOICE FROM RUSSIA "If Prussian militarism is de- stroyed, it' that evil thing which has darkened all our lives is destroyed, as I most firmly believe it will be destroyed. I think some measure of disarmament may be possible. It should be quite possible for. with England and Russia friends, the rest oi the world is safe." — Sergius Sazonoff, Bussian minister of for- eign affairs, in an interview with a correspondent of the London Chron- icle. A remarkable statement by a re- markable statesman. Once more the world is asked to believe that it was "Russia's abhorrence of militar- ism that caused her to draw the holy sword — the sword upon which is in- scribed the motto "S* nami Bog." "God is with us." Once more the world is asked to believe this oft- reiterated fiction in spite oi the fact that at the outbreak of the war Rus- sia had an army oi 1,384,000 under the colors, and Germany only 870,- 000; in spite of the fart that in the past generation Russia has waged two great wars of her own provo- cation, one with Turkey and one with Japan, and had sought the third until she found it: in spite of the fait that the entire Russian ad- ministration, from top to bottom, is and always has been a military ad- ministration, with a truly military disregard for individual rights, and with Cossack whips as implements of government. And now. with the hated Prus- sian militarism as the object of Busr sia"s righteous wrath. M. Sazonoff points piously to the time when the world will be "safe." It will be "safe" when Russian militarism, the greatest militarism the world ever saw. and British navalism. the great- est navalism that the world ever dreamed of. stand side by side as the protectors of "the rest of the world." Truly, unfathomable is the hardi- hood oi Sergius Sazonoff and meas- ureless his contempt for the intelli- gence of the "rest of the world"! — Feb. 24, 1916. FRONTIERS Much of the loyalties, the loves, the hopes, the hatreds and the as- pirations oi the world have been concentrated since history began along imaginary lines drawn on the map. Nations have shed rivers of blood to shift a frontier or to pre- vent its obliteration. The fate of empires has been staked upon the CAUSES OK TIIM WAK 11 effort to extend a frontier; \rai I dominions have fallen asunder like a child's house huill of lilocks, ho- cause of the failure to prevent the \ lohit ion of a front ier. Now ;i frontier is a purely imag- inary line. The soil on either side of this line is apt to be the same. I n many instances I he population is approximately the same. And yet to the traveler who knows history the crossing of a frontier is an ;iel which appeals to the imagination. It is an act which evokes a, vivid rculiziit ion of a difference of ideals, Of ;i diversity of aims, of a conflict of interests. Wherein lies the magic meaning of this Imaginary line? Why do men die in hosl in an endeavor to preserve it ? Why are the annals of the human race largely a record of the shifting of frontiers? A man's identity is his iii" i precious possession. An attempt to suppress that identity is ;in attempt to obliterate the personality which that identity represents. I d defen e Of that identity ;i, num will sacrifice life itself. The identity, the con- tinuity of a nation is as enduring an instinct as the identity of an in- dividual. The nation, like the in- dividual, will offer the ultimate sac- rifice on the altar of that identity. The problem of frontiers is com plicated by geographic, commercial, racial and military considerations. The original frontiers were those of race. It was natural that, there should he a limitation of inter- course between peoples of differing speech ; hence the line of contact be- tween thom also became a line of division. Then, in the course of tirno and the migration of peoples, a confusion of this simple and au- tomatic demarcation arose. A con- iliet developed between racial, geo- graphic and strategic divisions. Because of this confusion Europe has weltered through centuries of international anarchy. England has thrown her commer cial and political frontiers far be- yond her racial houndaries. Rus- sia, by a, scries of absorptions, has flung her line aero Europe and Asia, to the Pacific. France, in the course of tin- pad, century, has shifted her houndaries southward across the Mediterranean info the heart of Africa. Russia and Prance, like England, have spread out territorially far be- yond the extent of their respective races. I.'u ia,, politically and com- mercially, has become largely an Asiatic power. France has become to a, great extent an African power. Of all the great powers of Europe, the political frontier- of Germany alone coincide to a marked degree with her racial boundaries. With a population of more than 65,000,000 ami a growing birthrate, to tJcr- many alone of all the great Euro- pean states has been denied an ade- quate expansion overseas except, in the least desirable part of Africa,. There is an inequity which his- tory has bequeathed to Europe, and the struggle of to-day is the inex- orable Struggle for read just merit. Should Europe at the end of this war still deny to Germany a, more approximately fair relation between her racial frontiers and her com- mercial and political houndan the signature of the treaty of peace will he only the portent, of a, still greater war to come. The history of Europe will continue to be the annals of a chronic conflict over imaginary lines. — May 12, 191 <;. IS THE OK A VEST 866 DAYS THE ANGLO-GERMAN TREATY OF 1914 By S. s. McClubb On adjoining columns of this page 1 publish the terms o{ a treaty which, it' consummated, would have removed the hostility between Eng- land and Germany. The other data and documents 1 publish are to be found in any well constructed his- toid of the diplomacy of 1914. I came across this treaty by chance. One of my fellow passen- gers on my journey to Constanti- nople was \h\ Jaeckhj an expert on European Turkey and Asia Minor, and he knew of this treaty because he had helped prepare it. During my stay in Constantinople I spent one evening with the Ger- man ambassador. Count von Metter- nich, who had been the German am- bassador in London for many years and had worked in hearty collabora- tion with Sir Edward Grey to re- move the causes of friction between England and Germany. He con- firmed the accuracy of the data I had secured from Dr. Jaeckh and expressed a very high opinion of Sir Edward Grey and his work to establish friendly relations between Germany and England. On my return to Berlin, I at once took the document containing the terms of the treaty to the Foreign Office. I was anxious, first of all, to have it absolutely confirmed by the highest authority, and. secondly, to get permission to bring the mate- rial with me to America. I was successful in both respects. I then showed the document to the American ambassador, Mr. Ger- ard, who deemed it of sufficient im- portance to have a copy made and sent to the State department at Washington. This was particularly reassuring to me. as it might not be possible tor me to get any papers past the British blockade. So far as the authenticity of this document is concerned, 1 have the very highest German governmental authority. On the English side I quote from "The Diplomatic His- tory o( the War." by, M. P. Price, of Trinity College, Cambridge, pub- lished in the autumn of 1914 (Charles Scribner's Sons). The assassination o( the crown prince of Austria-Hungary, the im- movable and implacable stand of Austria-Hungary against Servia, as expressed in the note to Servia, the ensuing negotiations combined with mutual dread and distrust, result- ing in war, prevented the signing of this treaty. It is a fair deduction from the nature o( the treaty, and from the success of the previous similar Brit- ish treaties with France in 1904 and with Russia in L907, that had HO such serious event as the as- sassination of the crown prince oc- curred during L914 there would be an entente among the nations now at war that would have rendered war unlikely for many generations. The important tiling is that early in 1914 there were no irreconcilable differences between England and Germany. The pacific tendencies of both governments are obvious. Von Bethmann-Hollweg is regard- ed in Germany as above all a pacifist. Von r.etbmanu-llollweg's strong desire for the maintenance of the peace is indicated by his notable speech in the Reichstag last Mon- day. The speech is thus referred to in" a dispatch by the Associated Press : CAUSES OF Til JO WAIi 13 Berlin, June 5, L916. — One of the 1 1 1 < » - 1 . -I mtmi'j |i:i ;il"-- from the speech oeme when the chancellor re- plied to a pamphleteer's charge that in the opening days of the war he had believed England would have remained Germany's friend, or at least neutral, and that he had wasted three days parleying with England, three days which meant an enor- mous prolongation of tho war be- cause the first Mow was aot struck promptly enou "1 know that my attempts at an understanding with England," said the chancellor, "are my capital of- fense, but what was Germany's position prior to the war? Krance and Russia were united in an in- dissoluble alliance. There was a strong anf [-German party in l.'u and an influential and growing sec- tion in France which was urging re- renge and war. Russia could only ho hold in check if the hope of English aid was siicc fully taken from them. They would then have never ventured on war. Jf 1 wished to work against war I had to at- tempt to enter into relationship with England. "I made this statement in the face of the development of an English policy which wa* hostile to Ger- many and of which I was entirely cognizant. I am not ashamed of my conduct, even though it proved abortive. Ho who on I hat account charges me with being the cause of the world catastrophe, with its hecatomhs of human sacrifices, may make his accusation before God. I shall await God's judgment calmly." This passage caused a tremendous sensation in the house and it was repeatedly interrupted hy loud cheer- ing. All Germany regards Von Beth- mann-Hollweg as a pacifi t, and it is universally believed \>y his sup- porters and hy his opponents in Ger- many that he postponed the decla- ration of war for two or three days, hoping with England's co-operation to prevent war. In my interview with the chan- cellor he told of the overwhelming mass of evidence, official and pri- vate, in regard to the Ru ian armies that compelled him, in self-defense, to declare war. Germany may have misinterpreted \\\c acts of I'n ia. The government of Germany did not feel jus! ified in taking the risk of b Russian offen- sive. I believe that in those hur- ried day,-, the implacability of Austria-Hungary caused mutual fear in Europe and that this mutual fear or dread caused the war. I publish above hi- defense be- fore his opponent- in the Reichstag, for endeavoring to preserve peace in duly, 1.914. lie hag been chargt d a- in part, responsible for the Rus- sian invasion of East Prussia. — June H, 1816. THE IMPENDING ENTENTE BETWEEN ENGLAND AND GERMANY, JUNE, 1914 Jiy S. S. McCLUEB. Terms of the Treaty There wore many indications of a growing friendliness and mutual confidence between England and Germany and Germany and France for a year or two prior to July, 1914. In April, 1913, Von Bethmann- Hollweg declared in the Reichstag: "With England we are on the host footing, we have gone hand in hand 14 THE GRAYEST 366 DAYS with her in the present crisis, and in spite of Great Britain's member- ship of the triple entente, it is very- advisable to aim at a peaceful agree- ment with the British empire in the future. The language of the Brit- ish statesmen is altogether concilia- tory and peaceable." Sir Edward Grey, in a dispatch on July 30, 1914, to Sir E. Goschen, British ambassador at Berlin: "And I will say this : If the peace of Europe can be preserved and the present crisis safely passed, my own endeavor will be to promote some arrangement to which Germany could be a party, by which she could be assured that no aggressive or hos- tile policy would be pursued against her or her allies by France, Russia and ourselves, jointly or separately. I have desired this and worked for it, as far as I could, through the hist Balkan crisis', and Germany having a corresponding object, our relations sensibly improved." Finally in his statement to the Reichstag, August 3, 1914, just the •day before England declared war, Von Bethmann-Hollweg said: "Shoulder to shoulder with Eng- land, we labored incessantly and supported every proposal in Vienna from which we hoped to gain the possibility of a peaceable solution of the conflict. We even, as late as the 30th of July, forwarded the English proposal to Vienna, as basis for ne- gotiations, that Austria-Hungary should dictate her conditions in Ser- via, i. e., after her march into Servia." It will be remembered that the last interview between the British ambassador at Berlin and the impe- rial chancellor refers also to the im- proved conditions between England and Germany. Sir E. Goschen, Brit- ish ambassador in Berlin, writes to Sir Edward Grey on August 5, 1914 : "I found the chancellor very agi- tated. He said: 'All his efforts in that direction had been rendered useless by this last terrible step, and the policy to which, as I knew, he had devoted himself since Ms acces- sion to office had tumbled down like a house of cards." "As I was leaving he said that the blow of Great Britain joining Ger- many's enemies was all the greater that almost up to the last moment he and his government had been working with us and supporting our efforts to maintain peace between Austria and Russia. I said that this was part of the tragedy that saw the two nations fall apart just at the moment when the relations between them had been more friendly and cordial than they had been for years." A more definite statement as to the basis of good feeling between England and Germany is to be found on pages 44 and 45 of "The Diplomatic History of the War," by M. P. Price, M. A., Trinity College, Cambridge, published, 1914, by Charles Scribner's Sons: "But in spite of the failure of the political and naval negotiations, in spite of the Morocco crisis and the ever increasing pressure of arma- ments, Anglo-German relations sen- sibly improved after the Balkan crisis of 1912, when the two coun- tries co-operated for the settlement of the Albanian question. It ap- peared, in fact, about this time that a change in Anglo- German relations was about to take place on account of mutual interests in the near East. Indeed, an Anglo-German agree- CAUSES OP THE WAR 15 ment over spheres of influence in Asia Minor and Mesopotamia was being prepared and was to have been signed in the autumn of 1914. Such an agreement would have settled all outstanding questions between the two countries in the East, it would have given Germany her place in the sun, and might have laid the seed of an understanding in Europe which would have included Germany in a European concert and put an end to the system of power-balances." On March 2, 1916, during my journey to Constantinople, I learned the terms of the treaty referred to by M. P. Price. I submitted the data I had secured to the Foreign office in Berlin on my return to Ger- many early in April, and I print herewith the provisions of this treaty as finally given to me by the Foreign office in Berlin and which Price states was to have been signed in the Autumn of 1914. The Anglo-German Agreement of 1914 Anglo-German agreement, June, 1914, which was drafted and already initialed by the members of the con- ference. It would have satisfied Germany for decades without endan- gering the British empire: 1. The Bagdad Railway from Constantinople to Basra is definitely left to German capital in co-opera- tion with Turkey. In the territory of the Bagdad Railway German economical working will not be hin- dered by England. 2. Basra becomes sea harbor in the building of which German cap- ital is concerned with 60 per cent, and English capital with 40 per cent. For the navigation from Basra to the Persian gulf the independence of the open sea is agreed to. 3. Buweit is excluded from the agreement between Germany and England. 4. In the navigation of the Tigris, English capital is interested with 50 per cent., German capital with 25 per cent, and Turkish with 25 per cent. 5. The oil wells of the whole of Mesopotamia shall be developed by a British company, the capital of which shall be given at 50 per cent, by England, at 25 per cent, by the German Bank, at 25 per cent, by the "Royal Dutch Company" (a company which is Dutch, but closely connected with England). For the irrigation works there had been intended a similar understanding. The rights of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, in which, as is known, the English government is concerned, remained unaffected. This society exercises south of Basra, on the Schatel-Arabia, as well as in all south and central Persia, a monopoly on the production and transport of oil. 6. A simultaneous German-French agreement leaves free hand to French capital for the construction of railways in southern Syria and Palestine Besides this, there is an agree- ment, already made before, between Germany and England, concerning Africa, with the following reparti- tion of their spheres of influence in Angola and Mozambique. Finally there is to be mentioned the Morocco agreement, which estab- lished the political predominance of France in Morocco, but, on the other hand, stated the principle of "open door" as to the trade of all nations. 16 THE GRAVEST 366 PAYS England's Similar Treaties with France and Russia 1. England and Franco. After several years o( acute hos- tility between England and Franco a treaty was concluded April 8. 190 L by which the conflicting claims of England and France in Egypt and Morocco were satisfied, and all causes of European conflict removed later by the Algeciras conference and other negotiations. Later the in- terests of Germany were recognized and the Anglo-French agreement became part of the law of Europe, 0. Englarid and Russia. The hostility between England and Russia was acute and of long duration. A convention signed August 31, 1907, settled the differences of the two nations on the continent of Asia. By this convention their respective interests in Persia were definitely settled. Agreements were also made as to Afghanistan and Thibet. The result of the agreements with France and with Russia was to re- move long-existing and dangerous conditions that might easily have caused war. There was no motive for war in 191 1 on the part of either Germany or England. That England worked ably and whole-heartedly to preserve the peace of Europe is obvious to the most casual student of contempor- ary historical documents and data. 1: is claimed by some writers that Germany conspired with Austria to bring about this war, that Germany was behind Austria in sending the extremely provocative note to Servia and that Germany did not exercise a restraining influence over Austria. There is nothing in the printed dip- lomatic documents to bear out this idea, and if we take the beliefs of contemporary observers we must come to the opposite idea and con- clude that Germany no more than England wanted war. Let us con- sider : Did Germany Know the Nature of the Austrian Note to Ser- bia? I give herewith what the Berlin correspondents o( English news- paper and other newspapers said at the time and statements from gov- ernments. London Times: Berlin, duly Ol.— -The severity o( the Austro-llungarian note to Sen ia has caused surprise here. I understand that the German go\ em- inent was not aware of the details or of the tone of the note, although it had received confidential informa- tion as to its "scope.' The extent of the demands to be made to Servia was, however, left entirely to the dis- cretion o( Vienna, and advice was neither asked for nor offered official- ly. Far less has Germany encour- aged Austria-Hungary to go to ex- treme lengths. The note has there- fore caused surprise, and the Chau- vinists, of all people, are indignant that Berlin was not asked for advice and was not given full details of the Austrian demands." Sir Edward Grcu to Sir II. Eum- ■'. British Charge d'Affaires at Berlin. (Telegraphic) Foreign Office, July 85, 1914, The German ambassador read me a telegram from the German For- eign office saying that his govern- ment had not known beforehand, CAUSES OF THE WAR 17 and had had no more than other powers to do with the stiff terms of the Austrian note to Servia, bu1 once she had launched thai note, Austria could not draw back. Die Post (Berlin) : Berlin, July 25. — "Every sentence is a blow of the fist in the face of the Servian government. We fully un- derstand and appreciate the deep in- dignation and the incurable pain which dictated these sentences. But we must still ask ourselves once more: On what does the Austro- Hungarian government really base these serious accusations?'' Daily Telegraph : Berlin, Sunday Night, July 26. — "It has boon suggested that Germany is in part responsible for the con- tents and tone of the Austrian note. She has even been accused of occa- sioning or at Least inspiring that document. This imputation she ab- solutely repudiates." Manchester Guardian : Berlin, Monday, July 37. — "Clearly, Germany was unaware of the text of the Austrian note before it was presented. I am assured on reliable authority that the govern- ment disapproves the excessive sharpness of the tone employed." Westminster Gazette : Berlin, July 29.— The belief ex- pressed in some English newspapers that Germany and Austria planned the crisis with Servia in order to bring on a "preventive war"" with the dual alliance is ridiculed. The crisis is directly traced to the Sara- vejo assassinations, without winch Austria would probably have nursed her other grievances with Servia for years. The "Berliner Tageblatt" state- ment that "Wilhelmstrasse" saw the ultimatum only "at the last minute" is taken as correct. Did Germany Try to Restrain Austria? All the diplomatic dispatches in- (1 irate that Germany endeavored to moderate Austria's position. In my interview with Count Apponyi he said : "So far from pushing Austria- Hungary to war, Germany put every pressure on her in order to avoid it. But for Emperor William's strong, at a given moment, almost comminatory advice, Austria-Hun- gary would have insisted on the principle that no power, least of all Russia, had any right to step in be- tween her and a neighbor who con- stantly intrigued against her tran- quility and safety. These are well known facts, established by unim- peachable documentary evidence." From the Rhcinisclw-Westplialische Zeitung, July 26. — "It is really ridiculous for the people of Vienna and Budapest to imagine that Europe and our whole planet have given them the sacred mandate to avenge the dead arch- duke. "Unluckily, it would be the Ger- man army that would be charged with this task. It is scandalous that our government, should not have de- manded to be minutely informed of the details of the Austrian demarche before it was made. "We ought to declare to-day that we are not obliged to aid Austria in its policy of conquests. We have nothing to gain in a war against "Russia." 18 THE GRAYEST 3G6 DAYS Berlin Correspondence Daily Chron- icle : Berlin, Monday, July 27.— "There is no doubt that the German govern- ment ardently wishes that the con- flict may be localized. "Germany undoubtedly wants peace, but her view of the situation is that Austria cannot now withdraw a step before she has obtained full satisfaction from Servia. Any at- tempts toward securing peace that leave this point out of the question will be cordially supported by the German empire." Cologne Gazette: Tuesday, July 28.— "The desire of the western powers to avoid through timely action the extension of the Austrian quarrel with Servia will not only be gladly entertained, but the Berlin cabinet is ready in more than one capital to work through mediation for the mainte- nance of European peace. One may congratulate oneself that through the initiative of Sir Edward Grey the idea of mediation has been taken up officially and is being only dis- cussed." Daily News: St. Petersburg, Monday, July 27. — "The breathing space secured by the friends of peace, headed by England and Germany, has percep- tibly relieved the situation." Bethmann-Hollwcg to German Am- bassador in Vienna: Berlin, July 30, 1914.— "We are indeed ready to fulfill our duty. As an ally we must, however, refuse to be drawn into a world conflagration through Austria-Hungary not re- specting our advice. Your excellency will express this to Count Berchtold with all emphasis and great serious- ness." Sir Edward Grey to Sir G. Buchan- an, British Ambassador at St. Petersburg: Foreign Office, July 30, 1914.— "German ambassador informs me that German government would en- deavor to influence Austria, after taking Belgrade and Servian terri- tory in region of frontier, to promise not to advance farther while powers endeavored to arrange that Servia should give satisfaction sufficient to pacify Austria. I suggested this yes- terday as a possible relief to the sit- uation, and if it can be obtained, I would earnestly hope that it might be agreed to suspend further military preparations on all sides." Beuter's Agency: Thursday, July 30.— "Reuter's Agency in London circulated on July 30 the following from a well-in- formed source: "Despite any idea to the contrary, Germany is doing her best to pre- vent a European outbreak. Her position must, however, be taken into account. She cannot, as is sup- posed in some quarters, bring pres- sure to bear upon her ally to stop all action, but she has been giving, and continues to give, good advice to Vienna. "It would be useless to disguise the fact that the partial mobiliza- tion of Russia has made the situa- tion as regards Germany, and par- ticularly Austria, more difficult." — June 8, 1916. Russia's Mobilization as Record- ed by Correspondents From the St. Petersburg Correspon- dent of the London "Post." "As a matter of fact, Russia took steps for mobilization the moment CAUSES OF THE WAR 19 the Council of Ministers decided last Friday (July 21) that the sovereign status of Serhia must be protected at all costs." The St. Petersburg correspondent of the London "Times" regarding a conference held the evening of July 25: "At the close of the meeting the Czar, speaking of the Austrian note to Serbia, is said to have exclaimed, 'We have stood this sort of thing for seven and a half years. This is enough !' Thereupon his majesty authorized the issue of orders for a partial mobilization confined to the fourteen army corps on the Austrian frontier. At the same time an inti- mation was given to Germany that orders for the mobilization of the remainder of the Russian army would follow immediately upon mobilization in Germany." Here are the developments in Russia July 24 and 25 : From "Le Temps," Paris. "After the meeting of the Council of Ministers it was decided that mobilization orders should be issued immediately for the army corps at Odessa and Kieff. The energetic in- tervention of the war minister, Gen. Sukhomlinoff, created a great im- pression." St. Petersburg Correspondent Lon- don "Daily News," July 26. "The crisis will become acute later in the week, when the mobilization of the Kieff, Warsaw and Vilna mili- tary contingents will be in full swing — which lie directly on the German frontier." The clearest forecast was made by the Paris correspondent of the Lon- don "Telegraph" on July 28, as fol- lows: "The one certain thing is that if Austria goes beyond a certain point in her attack upon Serbia, Russia must and will intervene. That means an invasion of Galicia by Russia, with Roumania almost probably at- tacking next door. That means Ger- many compelled, not only by treaty but in self-defense, to take up arms for Austria. The first stroke in the defense of Austria by Germany must, of course, be an attack upon France. The German plan is a vio- lent and sudden attack upon France, after which, it being assumed that the attack is overwhelmingly suc- cessful, Germany will, just be in time to turn round upon Russia, always slow in her mobilization. "Finally, all this means the Brit- ish fleet making a swift dash to an- nihilate the German. In short, the conflagration once lit, no one knows where it will stop." The "Daily Chronicle" correspon- dent at St. Petersburg July 28 said : "Already a rapid mobilization is proceeding in the west and south- west, virtually from the German frontier to the Black Sea." — June 9, 1916. HOW WAS WAR POSSIBLE IF ENGLAND AND GERMANY WERE AGAINST WAR? By S. S. McClure My interviews with Count Tisza, Count Apponyi and Baron Burian and other Austrian and Hungarian statesmen first made me realize that this was really an Austro-Hungar- ian-Russian war, when I visited Budapest and Vienna. I was often told that Count Tisza was the real author of the note to Serbia which caued the war. Some 80 THE GRAVEST 366 PAYS would say, "Yes. we caused the war and we are proud of it." Others would say "That note to Serbia was meant to make war. Serbia bad to be punished." In my interview with Count Tisza and bis associates I went right to the beart of the question : "Why did Austria-Hungary send such a peremptory note to Serbia with a forty-eight-hour limit?" "Because," they said, "the in- trigues and aims of Serbia threat- ened the existence of the empire." "Bui why the forty-eight-hour limit?" "Because we knew Serbia, knew that nothing but such a demand would bring a reply. Without such a time limit no satisfaction conld be secured. Twice before we bad to mobilize our armies at an expense of $80,000,000 to $100.000. 000 each time, putting a heavy burden on our national budget. The situation bad become intolerable and dangerous, and finally Serbia bad plotted to murder our crown prince." "But did you not know," I asked, "thai Russia would certainly intervene?" "It was none of Russia's busi- ness. It was a private matter be- tween Serbia and us. What would America think if Japan intervened in your Mexican trouble?" "Yes," I said, "let us admit that it was none of Russia's business. Still, did you not know that Rus- sia would make it her business?" They replied: "We thought the chances of Russia's interfering were about fifty-fifty, but that whatever the consequences we must remove the Serbian menace" T asked if they did not realize that if Russia came in all Europe would be involved. The reply was : "It was none of Europe's busi- ne>s. Europe must interfere at her own risk. Our situation was dan- gerous and intolerable. Because] Serbia was a small state we had been very patient, but when our crown prince was assassinated we felt we must put an end to the whole Ser- bian danger." The manner of the Hungarians that 1 saw was even more convinc- ing than their words. Some of the officials gave the impression of men under an obsession. To them the Serbian trouble of two years ago was the most terrible thing in the world. Just as the Irish question seemed the most difficult problem in the world to English statesmen, so to Austro- Hungarian statesmen the center of the world was the Aus- tro-Hungarian empire, and the safe- ty of the empire the most important thing in the world. (I have been in many countries. I know of no nation whose views about itself differ much from this.) fount Tisza is one of the most powerful and forceful statesmen in Europe. He is a great sportsman, noted tennis player. He has fought thirty duels, one when he was premier of Hungary. When I was told by well-informed people in Budapest and Vienna that he was the real author or at least the in- spiration of the note to Serbia it seemed probable that he was. Count Apponyi is one of the most noted men of Hungary. I was re- ceived by him in his library. On the wall was a portrait of Roosevelt. "You sec." he said, "in spite of Mr. Roosevelt's being against us, I still keep his portrait." Afterward Count Apponyi vis- ited me at the hotel. The important part of my interview with him was CAUSES OF THE WAR 21 revised by Count Apponyi himself, and it was as follows: "The work of tin's permanent con- spiracy against our territorial in- tegrity and safety was darkened by a series of attempts (four in num- ber within ji i'cw years) against the lives of valuable Austrian and Hungarian government agents, the crowning deed of which has been the a jassination of Archduke Fran- cis, heir presumptive to the Aus- trian and Hungarian 1 h rone, and of his wife at Serajevo. "While negotiations were si ill pending the order of general mobili- zation was issued at St. Petersburg, though Germany had warned Russia that such an order would amount to a declaration of war, since no power could risk the chance of a conflict with Russia except by forestalling the actual mobilization of her enor- mous masses." Baron Burian, the foreign min- ister of Austria-Hungary, said to me: "Russia was using Serbia a torpedo to wreck the Austro-Hun- garian empire." A distinguished diplomat ex- plained the situation to me as fol- lows: "Austria -has many Irelands or Mexicoe on her borders. The very existence of the empire was threat- ened by Serbia, backed as she was by Russia. We had reached the ut- most limit of safety." Alter spending nearly two weeks in Austria- Hungary T understood how utterly implacable and unre- st rainable the government of the dual monarchy was in its attitude toward Serbia. The point now to consider is well stated by the Italian historian Fer- rero : "Why was it that on July 29, all of a sudden, le^s than twenty-four hours after the chancellor had made his excellent peaceable proposals to the English ambassador, the impe- rial government requests Russia to top mobilizing against Austria, when Austria did not yet feel her- self threatened by these Russian preparation-, and did not complain of them ?" The answer is to be found in the new-paper correspondence and dip- lomatic documents in the adjoining columns. On July 24 Sir Edward Grey said: "Russia would be compelled by her public opinion to take action. * * * Once the Austrians had attacked Serbia it would be too late for any mediation. " Sir Edward Grey was right and the story as told in the accompany- ing documents shows how fatefully and inevitably the war came just as he so frequently pointed out in his wise and splendid efforts to preserve peace. — June 9, 191G. FIGHTING FOR STEEL MARKETS In the London Outlook of July 8 is an illuminating article on "Lor- raine and German Metallurgy." It is a call to England to see that France gets back Lorraine because this would destroy the German steel industry and leave Great Britain a free hand in the export field. It is shown that Germany before 1871, when Lorraine was acquired, was rich in coal but poor in iron ore. 82 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS Take away her iron ore, and her iron industry is gone. Figures are cited to show what England has lost and what she must regain. In L860 the world consumed only 7.000.000 tons of east iron, and England supplied half of it. France only produced 1,000,000 tons, the CTnited States 800,000 and Germany 700.000. In 1913 the various countries producing pii? iron ranked as fol- lows: United States. 31,000,000 tons; Germany, 10.300.000: Great Britain, 10.500.000; France, 5,300,- 000. England, beaten in her pro- duction of pig iron, was to suffer a graver defeat still in her steel. In 1913 England exported 3,- 000,000 tons of steel products, Ger- many 4,500,000; but in 1900 that same Germany had only exported 1.600.000. and as far hack as 1890 only 86,000 tons. One by one England's metallur- gical positions were wrested from her by the Germans. The Outlook rails upon Great Britain to remove the Germans from Lorraine and regain the steel trade of Europe. It is a striking illustration of the solid basis of fact that must be be- hind Great Britain's championing the cause of smaller nations. The history of Ireland, the Boer repub- lic, Egypt and Persia must make it clear that small nations per se are not indiscriminately championed. The designs upon German metal- lurgy are a specific instance of that principle which the London Times of March 8, 1915, proclaimed in such classic form : In this war England is fighting for exactly the same kind of reasons for Which she fought rhilip II., Louis XIV. and Napoleon. She is not fighting for Belgium or for Servia, for France or for Russia. They fill a great place in her mind and her heart, but they come second. The first place belongs, and rightly belongs, to herself. —August 7, 1916. Issues of International Law FOREIGN SUPPLIES OF ARMS Much stress is being laid upon the necessity of preserving for our nation the possibility of getting arms from oversea in war. It is declared that for us to cease our exports of arms to belligerents now would be to create a precedent which would be turned against us when, in our time of need, we call on foreign countries to send us the implements of war. The danger is that this talk will delude people into thinking that they can depend on the oversea world to help when war bursts upon us. Nothing is farther from the truth. When war comes, if we command the seas, no enemy can land on our shores, and we shall need to have no arms or ammunition sent us. If our fleet docs not command the seas, the enemy will command them and confiscate any arms sent to us, no matter how much money we have to pay for them, and no matter what precedents we keep alive in this war. Our safety is not in keeping alive this or that precedent. Our safety is a navy able to keep at arm's length any sea power in the world. — Feb. 10, 1916. TO ELIHU ROOT By John W. Burgess Mr. Elihu Boot is reported to have said in his address to the state con- vention of his party in Carnegie Hall, February Jo, that at the time of the entrance of the German forces into Belgium all the parties to the war were parties to the fifth Hague convention of 1907. Mr. Root ought to know about that, since he was secretary of state of the United States — that is, the chief diplomatic officer of the government — at the time. Nevertheless, as an old student of international law and the history of diplomacy, older even than he, and interested scientifically in getting at the exact truth in this matter and every other matter of history, I am compelled to call his statement most respectfully in ques- tion. According to Mr. James Brown Scott's work on "The Hague Con- ventions and Declarations of 1899 and 1907," published in the sum- mer of 1915, two of the parties to the present war have never ratified this convention, viz., Great Britain and Serbia. Mr. James Brown Scott was the secretary of our dele- gation at The Hague convention of 1907 and is an accurate scholar, having scientific interest in the truth fulness of his statements. Now, the German troops entered Belgium on August 4, 1914. Ser- bia was a party to the war on and after July 28 preceding. Great Britain declared war formally against Germany on August 4, a few hours after the entrance of the Ger- man troops into Belgium, but she 24 THE GRAYEST 366 DAYS had two days before this, according to the statement o( sir Edward Grey in No. 148 of the so-called "British White Paper." assured France that she would enter the war as France's ally in case of war be- tween France and Germany, and France was a party to the war be- fore the German forces entered Bel- gium. Thus two of the parties to the war, Serbia and Great Britain, the one both formally and actually, the other practically, if not formally, were not parties to the fifth Hague convention of 1907 at the moment when the German forces entered Belgium. This fact abrogates this fifth Hague convention altogether during this war, because the 20th article of the convention declares : The provisions of the present con- vention do not apply except between contracting powers, and then onh/ if all the belligerents are parties to the con- vention. Moreover, it must be remembered that in ratifying this convention the government of the United States laid clown the express condition that nothing contained in the convention should be construed as requiring the United States to interfere or en- tangle itself in or with the political questions o\' foreign states or to re- linquish its traditional attitude to- ward purely American questions. So far as 1 can comprehend the issues and events, the claim of Mr. Boot that this country was obligated to interfere in the conflict between Germany and Belgium, and his crit- icism of the administration for not having done so, have no foundation of any kind, least of all any legal foundation. I am a Republican of the first generation, an older Republican than Mr. Root himself. My Republican- ism began on the battlefields of the civil war. My first vote was cast for Gen. Grant for President and I have never in my life voted for a Democrat for anything. I have also thought that it might have been the better policy for this country to have recognized lluerta as president of Mexico, and 1 have felt sure that if the administration had forced Great Britain, from the start, to re- spect our rights of trade with neu- trals and in non-eontraband with Germany and Austria-llun^arv. there would have been no submarine warfare on merchant vessels. Nevertheless, I was not prepared for such a reckless, unfounded as- sault upon the policy of the admin- istration from so responsible a source. As a Republican it has grieved me most deeply, and as a loyal American 1 cannot view this effort to influence the country to abandon its peace and neutrality and plunge itself into the. cost, suf- ferings and horrors of war under such pretexts as anything short of an indifference to the interests of our own country which is positively appalling. If the Republican leaders have no better principles than this platform of folly, hate and destruction to offer to the Republican voters, then I for one am done with the Repub- liean party and shall exert every grain of influence I possess to pre- vent its re-advent to power. — Feb. 36, 1916. KEEPING THE FAITH America has been ambitious to be the champion of the rights of neu- trals in this terrible world catas- trophe. It has been our opportu- ISSUES OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 25 nity, and our duty, to keep alive these precedents which are called international law. Of the few ad tions apart from the conflict, we alone had the power to see to it that, in striving to injure each other, the belligerents did not strike at the lives and property of neu- trals, who had no part in making this war and who should not be made its victims. The belligerents have been fight- ing in two theatres — on land in their own countries, and on the seas. What happened on land was not of great concern to the neutrals ; they had no business getting into the fir- ing zone of the combatants. On the sea it was a different matter. The seas are the joint possession of all nations. Peaceful commerce has a prior right to the use of the seas. This right is modified, and not eliminated, by a state of war be- tween two nations. The progress of international law has been a record of the restrictions of the right of those who choose to go to war to interfere with the trade and travel of those who choose to remain at peace. This broadening basis for the security of neutral rights was built upon precedents; mainly upon cases where during war time powerful neutrals had prevented combatants from interfering with noncombat- ant lives and property on the high seas. To Great Britain, as a pow- erful neutral, the world has been particularly indebted for the main- tenance and extension of the rights of the peaceful trading nations. The seas came to be regarded as the highways of commerce, in which combatants came as interlopers. The old piratical practices of a warring sea power were limited to definite rights of interference as fixed in the law Of blockade, and, when no blockade existed, by the law of contraband. Whoever inter- fered with a British shipment on the high seas, except as justified by the law of blockade or contraband, was brought to terms and to apology by England exactly as if the wrong had been committed on British soil. Indeed, it had been committed on British territory, for the seas are the joint territory of all nations. When this war broke out Great Britain was a combatant, and the duty of guarding the freedom of neutral trade and travel — the up- holding of international law — fell to the United States. The small neutral countries of Europe, with frenzied belligerents on all sides of them, dared not speak. They looked to us. We held both England and Ger- many in the hollow of our hand. England, by her vast purchases of supplies in America, has pawned with us her future. Germany has been convinced that this was a financial war, to be won or lost through financial exhaustion. Noth- ing has been more apparent than Germany's willingness to go to any length of concession to prevent our boundless financial resources from being allied to the allies. Never did a neutral have so great power, so easy of exercise. Now at this crisis in our inter- national relations it is worth while to take stock of our achievement. How have we guarded the heritage of international law which the course of events placed in our keep- ing? At the end of the war will neutral nations feel more secure because of our upholding of their rights, or will they feel that we have 86 THE GRAVEST 'MM\ DAYS allowed the destruction of all the defenses which had been built for thorn ? Our professions have been fully on a par with our opportunities. On October 88, 191 1. when our first note was senl to England, we said: This government will insist that tin- rights and duties of the United States Bind its citiiens in the present war !><> defined by the existing rales of Interna- tiona] law. On October 81, 1915, when our last Dote to England was sent, we saul that we unhesitatingly accepted the championing of the rights o\' neutral nations. The clearest of all expressions of OUr intent is in a part of our duly vi note to Germany regarding the Li^sitania: The government of the United States ami t\\o Imperial Qerman government aro contending for the sumo moat ob- ject, have lone stood together In urging the very principles upon which the United States now so solemnly insists. They ere both contending for the free- dom of the sons. The government of tlio United States will continue to con- tend for that freedom, from whatever quarter violated, without compromise a iid at aiiu cost. Those were very brave words of profession. What of our perform- ance? Apart from all passion. prejudice and hearsay, what are the tacts of tin- case as Bet forth in the record for all to read ? At the opening of the war we asked all the belligerents to adopt the declaration of London as their vodc of naval warfare. The decla- ration of London resulted from a convention called at the behest oi England, and is a clear codification of the immunities of neutral com- merce in war time, compiled by an international conference in the dis- passionate days of peaee. The declaration states in its preamble that "the Signatory powers are agreed thai the rules contained in the following chapters correspond in substance with the generally rec- ognized principles of international law." Germany and her allies ao cepted the declaration. England and her allies refused : or worse. "accepted" it "with modifications" which made it a mockery. The British order in Council of August 80, 191 1. (»ut the severest breach of the war into the defenses of neutral rights, Greal Britain in that order practically destroyed the distinction between conditional con- traband and absolute contraband. Both these classes were forbidden to move to Germany, and both placed under snspieion if moving to a neutral country adjaoont to Germany* The contraband lists were then expanded so as to eon- tain every article of import into Germany excepl cotton. The right of blockade was exercised without assuming any of its obligations. I'nder the operation of this ille- gal order ami its substitute of Oc- tober 89, nothing but cotton was allowed to enter Germany, and half our shipments to neutrals — among other things, $15,000,000 of meat products— were haled into the Brit- ish prize eourt and Subjected to loss and delay upon mere snspieion. We sent no protest against this viola- tion of law- and of the very prece- dents Britain had established — until December 86, i!»i I. That protest was an academic one. In her an- swer to it. dated January T and February to. 1915, Great Britain did not iii the slightest degree meet our demands. ISSHKX OK INTERNATIONAL LAW 27 The purpose of the British meae urea was to starve Germany. The Germans In January, L9] l, adopted measures for the conservation of grain and Hour in the empire, in order to make supplies last until the next harvest. On February lis the submarine warfare was insti- tuted as a reprisal against Oreat Britain's starvation measures. Great Britain then proposed a "blockade" as a retaliation against, the submarine warfare. The block- ade, so called, was to prevent Ger- many Prom exporting anything and from receiving cotton -all oilier im- ports into Germany had long since been stopped by the August, and October orders in council and the swollen l.ritish contraband lists. Our government, saw that, these reprisals might be endless. So, for il second time, we invited the com- batants back into the limits, of law. We suggested | hat, Germany give up her submarine warfare and that England allow food for noncom- baiaid, population to proceed to Ger- many. Again, Germany accepted our offer; again, Oreat Britain re- jected it. Which of the belligerents is mani- festly determined to continue viola- tion of neutral rights in the pursuit, of its own ends? In March, 1!M5, the blockade was declared, in the face of our protests. We protested again. On March 30, we pointed out that, Britain was not, in the Baltic and so did not hinder Swedish exports to German Baltic ports like Stettin. Therefore she had no right to interfere with our exports to Stettin. No iota of con- cession has ever been made to our representations of the illegality of the blockade. No note to England ever showed that, we meant busi- With Germany if was quite differ- ent. Our first occasion to speak to her was after the February sub- marine order. We fold her that we should hold the Oernian government, to strict, accountability for injury done to .American vessels or citizen-. When the LusiJtiitui was torpedoed iii early May we told Germany she should not expect, us to omit any word or act necessary to tin- performance of our sacred duty of maintaining the rights of the I in i t < ■< l State! and its citizens and of safeguard- ing their free exercise and enjoyment. Yef wo never made any serious move to perform the sacred duty of maintaining flit: rights of flu; Cnited States and its citizens when Kng- land infringed upon them. Our March 30 protest against, the block- ade WAS answered evasively by Kn;_ r - land iii duly. Not until October 31 did we renew our protest to Eng- land, and it was again a literary affair. There was no suggestion of threat in it. In tin' meantime the Lusitama matter was vigorously pursued. Time after time we were on the verge of a diplomatic break with Germany. We forced from her con- cession after concession, until at last, in February, L916, she offered to apologize for sinking the Lus'i- tania, to pay an indemnity, to sink- no more unarmed liners without warning. To make sure that German sub- marine- would have no excuse for sinking merchant men without warn- ing, we have attempted to have Eng- land agree not to arm her merchant ships. We contended that any arma- ment is superior to a submarine on 88 THE GHAVEST 366 DAYS the surface, and the submarine can- not be expected to rise, visit and search unless trading vessels cease arming against the submarine. Mr. Lansing notified the entente powers: I should add that my governmeent is impressed with the reasonableness of the argument that a merchant vessel carry- ing armament of any sort, in view of the character of the submarine warfare and the defensive weakness of the under- seas craft, should be held to be an auxiliary cruiser, and so treated by a neutral as well as by a belligerent government, and is seriously considering instructing its officials accordingly. Well, that seemed clear. Berlin, basing on these words of ours, is- sued a warning that after March 1 she would torpedo all armed liners. If they were really auxiliary cruis- ers, as wo contended* they deserved no warning. England objects to our procedure and threatens to withdraw her mer- chant marine from our service if we rule that armed liners are auxiliary cruisers. Suddenly Mr. Lansing re- verses himself. He says that he can- not stand by his ruling without the consent of all belligerents : i. e., England, lie and the President tell the German ambassador that to kill an American on an armed British liner will mean severance of diplo- matic relations between this country and Germany. Congress becomes alarmed at the prospect of a war with Germany because of a German order which we apparently author- ized her to make. So Congress threatens the President that it will pass a resolution warning Ameri- cans off armed ships. So the matter stands to-day. The question of whether merchant vessels have a right to arm for any purpose is a much mooted proposi- tion in international law. Prior to the declaration of this war it has been a rule with France, Germany and Spain that the arming of their merchantmen! in times of war made them auxiliary cruisers and vessels of their national navies. Conse- quently this is not a change of front by Germany. It is uncontradicted that the national laws of the bel- ligerents are not in accord on this subject. The argument of our government that international law cannot be changed during the progress of a war is of no force, in view of the previous attitude of this government in reference to the blockade. In our note of March 30, 1915, to Great Britain, it is stated: The government of the United States is. of course, not oblivious to the great changes which have occurred in the con- ditions and means of naval warfare since the rules hitherto governing legal block- ade were formulated. It might be ready to admit that the old form of "blockade." with its cordon of ships in the immediate offing of the blockaded ports, is no longer practicable in the face of an enemy pos- sessing the means and opportunity to make an effective defense by the use of submarines, mines and aircraft. In our note of March 5, 1915, to the British government, it is stated: This government is fully alive to the possibility that the methods of modern naval warfare, particularly in the use of the submarines for both defensive and offensive operations, may make the means of maintaining a blockade a phy- sical impossibility. The attitude of our government thus seems to be that we can admit to Great Britain and France that the advent of submarines may cause a change in a fundamental proposi- tion of international law, without asking Germany for its consent to this change, even though such hap- pens to injure the cause of Germany. ISSUES OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 29 On the other hand, in a case where we an- "particularly impressed" with the justice of the German position in reference to the advent of sub- marines, we will not consent to the clearing of B doubtful proposition of international law without the con- sent of England, if the change would happen to hear heavily upon the allies. Not only have we refused to take any firm -land against Lngland, hut we have refused to aid any one else in so doing. When in November, 1914, Great Britain mined the open North sea, the Scandinavian coun- tries asked us to join them in a pro- test against this lawless act. We declined. We now decline to join Sweden in a protest against Brit- ain's interference with international mails on the high seas. We insist on the very letter of the law when it is a question of our right to ship ammunition to the allies. But we insist on neither the letter nor the spirit of the law when it is a question of shipping food to the peaceful inhabitants of Ger- many. We protest that the "block- ade" is unlawful, but we do nothing, and promise to do nothing about it. Thomas Jefferson tells us that there is no difference between our re- straining shipments of food to Brit- ain's enemy, and allowing Britain to restrain them unlawfully. Both alike are unneutral acts. Is all this fair? Is it American? Is it the performance of that even- handed justice which befits a neu- tral? Above all, have we kept the faith and fulfilled our trust, to hand down to posterity the full body of inter- national law which civilization has intrusted to us? — February 29, 1916. DUTY OF CONGRESS TO DE- CLARE REAL NEUTRALITY OF AMERICA By John \\ . Bubo] To the Editor of The Evening Mail: Sir — Replying to many questions concerning the submarine contro- versy between the governments of this country and Germany, I beg to say that, in my humble judgment, the administration has woven around itself such a web of fallacies in re- gard to the international duties of neutral governments toward belliger- ents that it has become practically helpless, and that Congress must take the matter in hand, extricate the administration from its self-im- posed bonds and set it upon the right track again. The administration made its first fatal mistake when it declared to the people of this country and to the world that this government could not, in the course of a war, prohibit the manufacture and export of arms and munitions of war without com- mitting a breach of neutrality and thus giving the belligerent which considered itself put in disadvan- tage thereby a just cause of war upon us. There is no such principle of in- ternational law as this and there are plenty of precedents against this groundless claim. To hold that this government is unable lawfully to prohibit at any time the exportation of anything it chooses from its ports is to deny the sovereignty and inde- pendence of the nation which has vested it with the power to regulate commerce without placing any such limitation on the power. By all the principles and practices of public law this is purely a domes- 30 THE CiKAYEST 366 DAYS tie question. The British govern- HKMU itself, through tlio mouth of Mr. Gladstone, expressly declared it to be such in the year 1870. We j mi t it on or take it off, said he, in accordance with the interests of our own people. I am unable to under- stand, and have never boon able to understand, how the government of the United States could make such a declaration. Even wore it true, it would be the height of imprudence and Indiscretion to make it. It cer- tainly has proved itself to be such. It has apparently taken the only peaceable weapon out of our hands, with which we could have forced Greal Britain to observe our rights of trade with other neutral coun- tries and with her enemies in non- contraband articles, and has bound us hand and loot to the policy— the war policy — o\' Great Britain. Happily, however, our constitu- tion vests in Congress, not the Pres- ident, the regulation of commerce. It, is Congress, and Congress alone, which can prohibit the expor- tation oi' munitions or anything else. It. is Congress, therefore, which has the ultimate determina- tion o\' the question whether the lav- ing on of any such prohibition would be unneutral, and Congress, fortunately for us. has not yei com- mitted itself \o anv such view as that announced by the administra- tion. Again, the administration has proclaimed that no nation can change a rule of international law during the course of a war. It might have said that no one nation can change a rule o\' international law at anv time, although Great Britain has been announcing to the world almost every month during the course of this war some change which she has claimed to make in the rules of international law ob- taining at the beginning o( the war, and this government has acquiesced in thorn, either tacitly or under pro- tests so mild as to be ineffective in all really important matters. It is, however, a principle laid down in all text books o( international law that a sovereign nation may withdraw it- self justly and right fully from the observance of any so-called rule of international law or even from the express obligations o( a treaty when u regards them as threatening to its ow n lib' and vital interests. Bui this high sounding declara- tion of the administration about the inviolability o\' the rules of interna- tional law during the course of a war has no application at all to the matter which the administration is endeavoring to make it cover, viz., a warning by this government to its citizens not to travel on the armed merchantment o( the belligerents. Tressed to its utmost limits, such warning is only an announcement to our citizens that the government will not bo responsible for their safety on sneh ships, that it will not plunge this country info the hates and horrors of war in order to at- tempt to avenge the accidents to a handful of inconsiderate, reckless and unpatriotic men. who obstinate- ly insist upon traveling on such ships. Can any man with one grain of common sense loft in his cranium call that the changing by this gov- ernment of a rule of international law: Where is the rule of interna- tional law which requires any gov- ernment to be responsible anywhere or at anv time for the safety of its citizens? There is none and never ISSUES OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 31 has been. Thai is a question sixain of a purely domestic nature. You may call it, if you will, the refusal of the government to at- tempt to enforce the enjoyment of a customary privilege. But that is just what neutral governments are always doing in times of war. What is the recognition by neutral gov- ernments Of the right of visitation and search of neutral vessels by bel- ligerents on the high sea, or of the right of belligerents lo hloekade en- emy's ports against neutral com- merce, except a refusal on. the part of the neutral government to at- tempt to enforce the enjoyment of the customary privileges, or rights, if you prefer, of its citizens in ref- erence to the freedom of the high sea. or of entering the ports of a friendly nation? The manifest anxiety of the ad- ministration to work this domestic power of the govern men t of every sovereign nation, over its relations to its own citizens around into some sort of a duty to the belligerents un- der the behests of international law is the thing of sinister import which no patriotic American citizen dare allow to eBcape his eye. Stripped of all the sophistries of rhetoric and presented in the full nakedness of its iniquity, it simply means that this government and. nation shall ac- knowledge an obligation to Great Britain, Russia and France to de- liver safely in their ports the arms and munitions of war sold to them in this country under the cover of the imperiled persons of American citizens. This pseudo obligation is termed the right of American citizens, and the maintenance of it is called a question of national honor! Was there ever such folly manifested be- fore in responsible places? To me such a course Of argumentation is making straight, for national dis- honor. It is making straight also, for national catastrophe. No gov- ernment dare bruise the intelligence, conscience and the sense of justice, fairness and truth of its citizens by any such legal fallacies. That con- SCience and that sense of t ruth will, sooner or later, revolt against such bonds and rend them asunder. "You cannot fool all the people all the time." These are the reasons of my con- viction that Congress should now take the submarine warfare contro- versy into its own hands for solu- tion and should at once >d, aside this fictitious international law which the, administration has in- vented, to the serious impairment of our national sovereignty over our own domest ic questions. Congress, and not the administra- tion, is, under our constitution, the determiner of international law and international obligation for our cit- izens. The administration, by its erroneous interpretations of both in- ternational and constitutional law, has hound itself hand and foot to the policy of Great Britain. It has rendered itself impotent to act free- ly. Congress, however, is as yet un- committed, and should, therefore, exercise its full power and authority to save the country from foreign war, which, once entered on, will not in my opinion, cease without a thor- oughgoing internal economic revo- lution, as likely to be destructive as constructive. Newport, Feb. 28. JOHN W. BURGESS. —March 1, 1916. 89 THE GRAYEST 366 DAYS PEACE OR WAR Again the issue o( the submarine is before the country for decision. In the last analysis, it is the issue of peace or war. There is no evad- ing the gravity o( the situation. Certain interests in tho United States are Urging us towards a "diplomatic break" with Germany. Tho ultimate outcome of a diplo- matic break, with the resulting in- flamed feelings here ami in the cen- tral empires, is war. America will not evade this war if it is a just one, necessary to pro- tect the vital rights of our eitizens and sustain the national honor. No sense o( unpreparedness will hold us back; \o defend America we can and will make the sacrifices to pre- pare, even during war. We are not afraid to fight. To-day we face the issue, count and weigh the facts and decide where our honor and our in- terest takes us. The State Department gives us the facts upon which to make our decision. The essential facts are contained in the diplomatic corre- spondence o\' the first nine months o( the war. In those nine months the entire present situation devel- oped. This diplomatic correspond- ence was published by the State De- partment in a "White Paper," May 87, 1915. Any American who de- eides for war without considering the facts which the government thus lavs before him forfeits his right to citizenship in a democracy, for a democracy's existence is built on the exercised intelligence of its eitizens. All through these papers the fact stares us in the face that German and British lawlessness cannot be considered separately. Our first move was to attempt to restrain both the belligerents within the lim- its of law. On August 6 (page 5 of the "White Paper") we sent a joint telegram to all belligerents asking them io accept the Declaration of London as their code of naval war- fare. This declaration was a clear statement of neutral rights of trade and travel. The central empires ac- cepted our proposal (page 5) ; the allies rejected it (pages 6 and 7), That is, the allies "accepted" the declaration "with modifications." The modifications destroyed the dec- laration as a document protecting the rights of neutrals. So on Oc- tober ;' I (page 8) we wrote England and withdrew our surest ion that th belligerents operate under the provisions of the declaration, on the ground that, as modified by Eng- land's acceptance, it was no longer any protection for us. Great Britain, however, continued to wage war under the Declaration of London as modi tied to suit her- self. She prevented us from ship- ping all foodstuffs to Germany, though Britain was maintaining no blockade, and. without a blockade, such stoppage of our foodstuffs ex- ports was contrary to all law and to British precedents themselves. We set all this forth in our first protest to England of December ?5. 1914 (page \0). Oreat Britain, in her answers of January 7 and February 10, 1915, declared her intention of continuing to proceed in the very course we had declared as lawless (pages 41 and 45). In the meantime Germany, which had learned to become dependent upon America for many foodstuffs and especially fodder — such as cot- tonseed meal — saw the approach of famine. On January ?8 she com- ISSUES OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 33 mandeered flour and grain in the March 1 (page GO) ; England re- empire for governmental distribu- fused it on March 15 (page 64). tion, and issued bread cards to lirn- Instead of giving up her law- it consumption. As a retaliation lessness, England multiplied it. On against the British starvation policy March 1 (page 61) she declared 3he Germany announced on February 4, would seize all goods moving to or effective on February 18, a sub- from Germany. It is not pretended marine compaign which would sink that any blockade is maintained; its British vessels whenever and wher- . rights are assumed, but its obliga- ever found. Neutrals were warned tions are evaded. There is no law- to keep off such ships. Neutral ves- i'ul blockade, because all nation- are sels were advised to keep out of the not kept out of Germany; Sweden war zone, because the British policy and Norway trade unhindered with of flying neutral flags put them in German Baltic ports, for Britain peril. All this was communicated does not hold the Baltic. Therefore to us in the German memorandum it is unlawful to stop our ship- mov- dated February 4, 1915 (page 53). ing to Baltic ports. Moreover, our The whole situation looked very government contends that for us to grave to us. A German policy had accede to this illegal British obliter- been announced which, added to the ation of our rights is equivalent to a British, promised to abolish all neu- refusal to trade witli Germany, and tral rights at sea. On February 10 is so a violation of that neutrality we wrote to England (page 55) and which we choose to observe. This asked them to stop using the Ameri- is the argument of our note to Eng- can flag, thus removing any German land of March 30 (page 09). excuse for torpedoing an American In the meantime Germany was ressel. On February 19 (page 59) putting the submarine policy into Great Britain refused to give up the effect and on May 7 sank the Lusi- use of our flag to shield her vessels tania, an act that shocked our whole from submarines. people. On May 13 (page 75) we Dispatches from London indicated told Berlin in no uncertain terms that England was going to stop all that we should hold Germany strict- traflic to or from Germany, as a re- ly accountable for American lives prisal against the submarine war- lost through submarine activities, fare. So on February 20 we tried This May 13 note is the last in for the second time to make both the "White Paper," but the suc- England and Germany return to the ceeding events are fresh in the minds limits of law. Both were justifying of all. The State Department ceased their lawlessness as an act of re- to regard German and British law- taliation against the other. We pro- lessness as joint offenses, tied to- posed to remove the ground for any gether by an avowed reprisal policy, retaliation. We asked England to Washington ceased to hold to ac- let us send food to the civilian popu- count the prime originator of of- lation of Germany, and in return we fenses against us and the one who asked Germany to give up her sub- has twice openly refused to return marine warfare. This was our note to law. All our pressure has been of February 20 (page 59). Ger- exercised against Germany, whose many accepted our proposal on offending began seven months after 31 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS England's and who has twice ac- cepted our just request for a joint return to the limits of law. All our notes to England since March 30, 1915. have been argumentative and rather protests against interference with our shipments to neutrals than against interference with our ship- ments to Germany. On the other hand, the sternest threats were used toward Germany until in December she let us write a Lusitania note that suited us with regard to apology and reparation for the disaster, and guarantees for the future. "While this note was in Berlin be- ing signed, we sent a note to the entente powers asking them to dis- arm their merchant vessels in or- der to make possible that visit and search which we had forced upon German submarines as a substitute for undiscriminate destruction. We said in our note that we were in- clining to the argument that armed merchant vessels were auxiliary cruisers and so suitable for destruc- tion without warning. Basing on this note of ours, Ger- many issued her warning that after March 1 she would sink all armed British merchant vessels. After our note to the entente we cannot logi- cally go to war to avenge American lives lost on what we call auxiliary cruisers. We already have an answer from the entente. They refuse to disarm liners. In the last two weeks has come a new memorandum from Ger- many, again offering to return to law if England will, and submitting to us proof of offensive actions by "defensively armed" merchantmen, as the British call them. In the last few days various British ships have been sunk carrying passengers, among them the Sussex, a trans- Channel liner. Proof is not in yet whether the Sussex was sunk by a submarine and whether she was unarmed, un- resisting and did not attempt to escape. If all these conditions are true we may, if we choose, go to war over the matter. Germany will probably say that there are bound to be occasional mistakes in sinking "unarmed" British ships so long as Britain refuses America's demand to disarm them all. For a subma- rine to rise and approach an "un- armed" ship that turns out to be armed is to court destruction. We can go to war, but there is another way out. It is to recognize the essentially joint character of the British and German issues. It is to compel their joint return to law, which every consideration of even- handed justice dictates and which our own diplomacy has twice sug- gested. International law is codi- fied in the Declaration of London, which protects us against both illegal blockades and submarines. By a threat of breaking commercial inter- course, followed — if necessary — by war, we can force each belligerent to abide by that declaration. What do we really want? Does America prefer to go to war to en- force our sense of justice upon one combatant while leaving the other free to violate our rights as it chooses? Or does America choose to recover from both belligerents for ourselves, the peaceful world and the future, the neutral rights of trade and travel which international law has handed down to us? Which course do honor, justice and interest dictate? — March 31, 1916. ISSUES OF INTEENATIONAL LAW 35 THINKING AMERICA Come now, let us reason together. To-day America stands face to face with participation in a great war, whose end none can see, whose sacrifices in blood and treasure awe the intellect. A democracy, if it is to exist, is a nation of thinking citi- zens. Every American is false to his duty who to-day shuns the mental effort of shutting his ears and mind to clamor and prejudice and of thinking straight on these great issues. A chain is as strong as its weakest link. A nation's thought is only as clear and straight as that of the mass of citizens who compose it. Whoever shirks his individual duty of thinking does not thereby fail to contribute to the action of the na- tion. But he contributes to it the impetus that comes from willful ignorance. No American chooses to be in this unthinking class. No American need be. The facts in this pending war are all known. The issues lie on the table for all who will view them. The President has told Ger- many that she must give up her star- vation campaign against England, that she must forego wholly the use of submarines against British freight vessels. For to tell Germany that her submarines must emerge, visit and search freighters which Britain refuses to disarm — this is to say that these frail craft must commit sui- cide. In effect we demand that sub- marines shall not be used against the carriers of British food supply, and that Germany must give up her at- tempt to starve England. But when we turn to the diplo- matic papers published by our State department, we find that England began a starvation campaign against Germany by an order in council of August 20, 1914, two weeks after the war began. We find that England's method of conducting the campaign, barring food shipments to Germany on the sea, was in violation of the very precedents of international law which England had established. We find that our government said this to England in sharp terms on De- cember 26, 1914, and March 30, 1915. We find when we look for the facts that Germany started her starvation campaign against England by means of a submarine warfare on February 18, 1915, six months after England had offended, and that this submar- ine campaign, endangering the lives of Americans on British vessels, was fully as great a violation of interna- tional law as England's. Then the thinking citizen turns the pages of the government White Paper and finds that on February 20, 1915, we asked both belligerents to come back to law. England was to give up her interference with our foodstuffs moving to Germany, Ger- many was to call off her submarines. And, to his amazement, the citizen finds that Germany agreed, England refused. As a joint agreement could not be secured, both continued their evil ways. The citizen, continuing, discovers that since then all our pressure has been applied to Germany. The so- called British "blockade" (England has never dared to call it a block- ade) has tightened. The President now proposes to break diplomatic re- lations and have war with Germany because she will not give up the use of her submarines. These, then, are the facts of the case. What is America's duty in the premises? There are three things 86 HE GRAVEST 366 DAYS which We oau do. Two of them mean peace. Due t)\' t hem so Ear as lui man foresight can judge moans w ar First We can bring both bellig- erents back ic the limits o( interna tionnl law. We can threaten to break oil present commercial rela dons with either belligerent which tloos not give up Ins starvation cam- paign, whoso conduct abolishes the established rights of neutrals to trade and travel on the high Beas o( the world. We can threaten not only present severance o( commercial re- lations \\iili the offender, bul we can also low a penalty tariff against his goods, to applj for ;i long time ahead. The economic losses, presenl ami future, which would confront either belligerent opposing our do maiul are such as to Insure compli- ance. This course would moan peace, ami the full restitution of the rights o( neutrals on (ho part o\' all who violate them. Second We ran ignore the breaches o( international law on the part o( both offenders ami declare that wo are indifferent to what either o\ them does. We can re- move all occasion o( conflict with either belligerent, by forbidding our citizens t>< try to export to Germany, ami by warning our citizens to stay off British merchant vessels, Then no mat tor how many o( these ships are sunk by Germany, it could not cause friction with us. This COUXSe would moan poaoo and the abandonment o( neutral rights on the high sous of the world, at loast during the period of this war. Third — We can disregard Eng- land's violation o( international law. and devote ourselves exclusively to removing the German offenses. In the unlikely event o\' diplomatic suc- cess in this undertaking we shall have peace and gain the restitution o\' a part o\' noutral rights, from ono offender, Germany, in tho Likely event that Germany will not con- sent to return to the legal limits alone, we shall have a diplomatic break, war. and shall lose all oppor- tunity to act as tin 1 defender o( nou- tral rights. We shall render our- selves unlit to act as mediator be- tween the combatants in any way. or to shorten the conflict. Each sovereign citizen of this democracy decides these issues on these facts. The sum o( these rea- soned decisions is the final word of the nation. America should not abandon its role as defender o( the rights of nou- tral nations. Never in history has BUch a call come to a nation as that which this war has brought to us. Let us rise to n and with equal vigor insist that the law o( nations shall be respected by both belligerents. Our President was right when he defined his position as that o( ••spokesman of humanity." Let him indicate that he intends to enforce international law. no matter from what quarter violated, and the ob- stacles that now seem so formidable will molt away. Sensible men in both belligerent countries, the con- science and public opinion o( the world will support him.- April 88, 1916. "COME NOW. LET US REASON TOGETHER" The President has America solid behind him when ho insists that belligerents observe international ISSUKS OF INTKKNATloNAh LAW .'57 [aw ;nnl the dictates of humanity. That means, in simple English: Germany and England, in their i *; i ^_r « ■ Id destroy each other, shall nol prac fcice indiscriminate highway robbery and murder on l he seas. 1 1 means that the peaceful Millions shall re tain their prior right to the high- w;i ys of I he world, and t hal interna i ional bandits shall noi lay emba r goes upon neutral trade and travel which are not specifically sanci ioned by international law. Uur demand I hat the belligerents skill follow the dictates of humanity means thai they shall not so use their naval forces as to threaten or lake inno- cent human lives which have no part in I he making or prosecul ion of I he war. These are the principles upon which we stand. Their applical ion to I he situation in hand is clear. i ."i 1 1 hjnTcnls are transgressing against l he commandments of inter nai ional law ami humanity. By our own confession of faith we are pledged to reassert law and compel observance of the rules of civilized warfare. The German violal ions of law and humanity are grosser and more pal pablej the British, however, may fairly claim that I hey Were firsl in the held and gave the Germans an excuse for their actS. Two weeks after the war began Great Britain passed an order in council which for bade us to ship food to Germany. No blockade <> a record of genuine neutrality and not of pretended neutrality. To-day the judge o( international law is the President o( the United Stales. The jury is Congress and the people o( this country. Our economic and military power stands ready to punish as we condemn. The trial of the two offenders has been completed. Both are guilty in the eyes o( the law and of common humanity, shall wo give them both the choice o( immediate reform ov punishment ? Shall we let them both on free? Shall we punish one ami release the other? If the judge will charge the jury with the facte and with the stirring statement of the principles o( law and neutrality in his duly and Feb- ruary utterances, there will be a unanimous and just verdict, — April VI. 1916. OUR PROBLEMS If ever an administration was he- set with difficulties, it is the present administration at Washington, The President ami his cabinet deserve the loyal support and honest aid o( every American in solving the preg- nant problems that confront Amer- ica. Every nation is taking advan- tage ^( our erisis with Germany to press its demands upon us. Carranza orders us out o( Mexico, We entered Mexico to catch and punish a bandit who murdered our citizens in cojd blood. It was "Villa alive or dead." We are still in Mex- ico. Villa is still alive in some mountain fastness, planning to re- launch his wrecked hark upon the tide of a national Mexican resistance to the Grinffoes. We went to Vera Cruz to get the flag saluted. We came away without the salute. We went over the border for Villa alive or dead. Are we to come away with him alive and with American dead on the trails over which we vainly pursued him? With American pres- tige—the Mexicans ami world may say "American honor" — thus low- ered, what will he the future safety ISSUES OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 39 of American property and lives on our side of the border? [f we with- draw, what will he the impression the world will get of OUT military efficiency and the strength of our national purposes? The administra- tion is weighing the loss with the gain if we are now to iquit Mexico at the demand of a Mexican school- master. (ileal Britain chose the days of the approaching German crisis to send us her notes refusing our de- mand that she cease confiscating our mails on the high seas, and re- fusing our demand that, she give up the passengers captured from the American steamer China oil' Shang- hai. On Thursday, April 20, lit 10, the very day after the President de- livered his address to Congress with its ultimatum to Germany, London cabled that the long-delayed reply to our note of October 31, 1!)15, re- quiring the withdrawal of the Brit- ish ''blockade," is on its way. Brit- ain has already let it be known that her reply was to he a refusal. In this crucial hour, when she believes our hand- are tied, when she be- lieves we are in no mood and no po- sition to defend ourselves against wrongs from the enemy of (ier- tnany — in this hour England sends us her denial. The London dispatch of April 20 significantly adds: Since its arrival in Washington cer- tain cable changes have been made in the original note. ]>ut Washington knows when governments are trying to take ad- vantage of us, and Britain may yet find that in her ingenuity she hae overreached herself. Japan is taking this time to press its objection to our sharp form of Asiatic exclusion. The national im- migration laws, and especially the California, land laws forbidding the Japanese In own property, are a thorn in Japanese pride. These are the days which Ambassador Chinda thinks suitable to reopen the ease at Washington. Hack of if all, even tually, is what? Shallow by shallow, stripped for fight The lean black cruisers search (lie sea. Washington knows the million veterans of the h'usso-Japanese war. The citizen may see an impressive section of them being reviewed by the Emperor Yoshihito on the pic- torial pages of last Sunday's New York Times. J>ut Washington is not ignorant, that this is the way in international affairs. Every nation is Looking for its own advantage and chooses the most, favorable time to press its claims; that is, the time when its adversary will feel least, able to re- fuse them. Washington will recall t\\a premature recognition of the ( !onfederacy by Britain and fiance. II (fill recall that, Napoleon I f I . took advantage of our preoccupation during the civil war to violate the Monroe doctrine and send Maximil- ian's expedition to Mexico. Washington does not forget that we also have taken occassion to prt our will on embarrassed friends. When Great Britian was harassed by the Boer war we put upon her the llay-l'aitncefote treaty, which gave us the power to build the Pan- ama canal alone, to own and oper- ate it as we choose, and to fortify it. We had none of these rights under the Websfor-Ashburton treaty, which the llay-l'auncefote super- seded. The earlier treaty provided that England was to be our partner in the enterprise. When Colombia was in the throes of a revolution we 40 THE GKAYEST 366 DAYS recognized and supported the revo- lutionaries and bought from them the Panama canal zone. And now — Even-handed justice Commends the ingredients of the poisoned chalice Even to our own lips. It has always been so. Interna- tional relations are no love feast. They are a game where the choicest minds of nations, backed by their united physical force, play for the world's prizes of possession, trade, power, dominion. At the gentlest, the play is with sharpened wits, with far-sighted seizure of opportunity, with calculating use of an adver- sary's — or a friend's — extremity. xVt the worst, the mask and costume of diplomacy are thrown aside and the armed warrior stands revealed, as we see him to-day in the earth- quakes of artillery operations at Verdun, the desperate infantry charges on the Tigris, the roving aeroplanes over Bulgarian head- quarters at Doiran, the silent stroke of the submarine in the North Sea. These are the issues, the even- tualities, which President ^Wilson and those around him face. Every one looks out for himself, and he lc/oks out for America. Saurc »* ship's papers do aol shew who Is the real consignee of the goods. It may not be clear why Great Britain, after banning all trade to and from Germany in Us order of March 1 1. L915, 'should take the trouble to specify treatment of con- traband gooas. If all goods going to or from Germany are contraband, win single any o( thorn out for special mention! The reason be- comes clear after a Little reflection. Suppose «c force England to rescind the Order in Council o( March 11, 19151 We should still tiud this Order o( July 8, 1916, banning all our exports. The diplomatic pro- cedure would thou be to treat re- garding the tonus of the July Sth order, ami regarding the propriety o\' including in the contraband lists each o( the hundreds o( articles car- ried there. The July 8 Order in Council provide- a second, third ami fiftieth line of trenches to he taken after we have stormed the order o( March LI, L915, It is not quite a hopeless situa- tion. It could have been — and could now be— handled with firm- ness and success. International law emerges from each war as strong as i he strongest neutral in the wax has •■ I \\ illing to preserve it. We can still save the law of the sea. We can, if we ehoose. demand that all belligerents in this war observe the Declaration o( London as a code of naval warfare. No belligerent has the force to resist such a de- mand from us. The Declaration of London would prevent any resump- tion o( German submarine warfare, for it specifies visit and search as the only lawful method for a war- ship to proceed against a merchant carrier. The declaration would settle the grave issues, and remove the graver dangers for the future which threaten us from the Orders in Council. If we had at the outset forced, instead o( merely recommended, the Declaration o( London, our contro- versies with Germany and England would never have arisen. By its adoption these controversies van be settled now. In the Senate are two bills, one o( Senator Walsh, em- powering the President to declare an embargo on our exports to any belligerent unlawfully interfering with our trade: and one o( Senator Gore, empowering the President to embargo ammunition exports or financial aid from us to a belliger- ent interfering with our trade con- trary to the provisions o( the Dec- laration o( London. The levying of an embargo is not a hostile act : in- deed, to-day England embargoes many exports to us and refuses to aeept many o( our goods. We shall have no satisfaction from England without the threat o( an embargo, just as we had none from Germany without the threat o( severing dip- lomatic relations and war. The Declaration o( London is. as it has been through the war, the key to the situation. It is the measure o( our duty as guardians of neutral rights on the sea. and is the means by which that duty can be per- formed. We have told both Germany and England that we proposed to force them to return to the limits of law. On July Ml, 1915, we wrote Ger- many : The government of the United States and the Imperial Gorman government are contending tor the same great object, have long stood together in urging the very principles opon which the United ISSUES OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 47 Slates now so solemnly insists. They an: both contending for the freedom of the sous. The government of the United States will continue to Contend for thai freedom, Irom whatever quarter violated, without compromise and at any cost. On October 31, l!>!."i, vve wrote England the same message: The task of championing the integrity of neutral rights, which have received the sanction of the civilized world, against the lawless conduct of bellig- erents arising from the bitterness of the great conflict which is now wasting the countries of Europe, the United States now unhesitatingly assumes, and to the accomplishment of that task it will de- vote its energies, exer<:'min, L915, the Presi- dent expressed at St. Louis the American people's Longing for neu- trality and their intention to pre- serve it. He said that lie a-piid will above materia] interests, and imper- iled the fate o\' her own people for the ^nn\ of humanity. It must not be forgotten that stealth is the os- sence of submarine warfare. The Submarine is not a battleship. It cannot defend itself from attack. Its sa felly is under the surface of the waters, and Us sole usefulness lies in surprising enemy ships. (.Jer- inany's acquiescence in the "visit and search" contention, therefore, places her whole submarine cam- paign on a loss effective basis. To that extent, it is a distinct gain io her enemy. England. Every Eng- lish ship captain will sail tile seas with far less concern hereafter, and seek outlets for England's trade with the certain knowledge that the powers at Washington and Berlin have robbed his voyage o( its great- est terror. It is not the purpose of war to ^\o that, yet that is precisely what German acquiescence does for Germany's enemies. On the other hand, the English embargo to which the German sub- marine campaign was a response stands unchanged by any protest which this government has made to London. Despite our attitude. England TIIH SIII5MAR.INM ISSUH 49 Btill insists On a limitless expansion of her list of conl raband. She ad herea rigidly to a policy that not only Benously affects our- interests, but is in direct coni ravenl ion to her own traditional attitude. There is nothing in internal ional law to jus- tify a sweeping assertion that everything on the sens is contraband, even though its destination is indis- putably not military. President Wilson has used HO nn certain language in his remon- strance to the English government and in demanding a revision of its orders in council, lie stands on the broad ground outlined above. There is not an inch of it that ean be justly disputed ; nor ean the principle be bartered away through an offer by England to buy the cot- ton we would be shipping to der- ma n y were the sens as free to neu- trals as they should he. The validity 6f internal ional law is at stake in the recognition by England of Pres- ided Wilson's contention. Bribery' — for that is what England's cotton purchase plan amounts to — cannot, be permitted by this government to gloss over a violation of principle. No section of the country would resent acquiescence in such a bar- tering away of principle as would the South, it realizes that its whole fid lire is involved in t he reCOgnil ion of its right to ship its cotton to every port, in the world and under all conditions. It, is not seeking a temporary adjustment, but the es- tablishment of a permanent policy — Or, rather, the recognition now by England of a code of law here- tofore insisted upon by her, and uni- versally recognized. . The vital and permanent interest that we as a nation have and the South as an integral pari of our na- tion has, is shown by the fact, that, 65 per cent, of tin; world's cotton is grown here. . It goes to Russia, England, Germany, Japan, as the chief centers of consumption. I f it, is not to have the Pate of last year's Crop, it must, move freely over tin- seas al all limes. Any sea. law that challenges its right to do so instant- ly becomes a menace to the Soutb/s greatesl interest, and remains so un- til this government insists upon a reversal. That, is the task President Wilson now faces, Sept. 3, l!)15. THE SUBMARINE ISSUE The President has been singularly consistent in his policy in regard to submarine warfare, lie stands (irmly on his hasic proposition that, I he lives of noncombatant American citizens must be safeguarded by the exercise of "visit and search/' No submarine must, attach an unresist- ing passenger ship without giving passengers and crew an opportunity to save their lives. This stand is based upon the high- est COncepI ion of international law, and upon the instinct of humanity. His policy is supported by the moral sense of the American people, and in maintaining a code of law at sea he has the absolute confidence of the American people.- -Sept. LI, L915. THE PRESIDENT'S VICTORY l ii i he name of his government, Count von Bernstorffl has given surance to the United States that "The orders issued by his majesty the emperor to the command, is of German submarines have been made o Btringent that the recurrence of incidents similar to the Arabic case 50 THE GRAVEST 366 PAYS is considered out of the question." Therein lies the crux o( the groat victory which President Wilson has won by his diplomacy, a victory o( which the American people may justly be proud, and for which the whole world owes a debt of grati- tude to the man who achieved it, for it redounds to the benefit o( the Qoncombatants o( all nations. What President Wilson has won is the recognition o( a great hu- manitarian principle In the midst of the most sanguinary war that has st a i nod the pages of modern history. Patiently hut with unalterable per- sistence ho has pressed for this point through a long series of diplo- matic interchanges, covering a pe- riod oi nearly five months since the world was startled by the awful tragedy of the Liu15. THE NEW SUBMARINE CAMPAIGN The new submarine warfare which Germany began under new condi- tions on March 1 constitutes the final phase of the struggle to break Britain's control of the seas. Britain's dominion over the oceans is based upon tin; battleship. With the battleship she has made her insular position impregnable. With the battleship, supplementing the seizures of strategic positions on the earth's surface through cen- turies of time, she lias made herself impregnable. With the battleship she has made herself mistress of the seaways of the world, from Gibral- tar through the Suez canal, or around the cape to the Falkland Islands, the Bahamas and Bermuda. The destruction of the preponder- ance of the battleship as the great maritime fighting unit would in- volve tremendous change of Brit- ain's status among the nations. Germany has selected and elab- orated the submarine as the one weapon capable of destroying this preponderance. On the day on which an effective submarine block- ade is established, Britain's mastery will go. Sea power will become the equal possession of all nations, for even the smallest nation will not be too poor to secure a sufficient equipment of under-sea boats. The discovery of gunpowder destroyed I be power of the armored man on horseback, because it enabled the nnarmored man on foot to meet his opponent on terms approaching equality. The submarine will work the same equalization between tli^ power of enormous resources, with a long building programme, and the nation of comparatively small means and wit bout naval traditions. It is the conviction of Germany — based upon her experience —that the submarine has been developed (o a much higher point of effectiveness in the past two years than in the preceding decade. Tin; minds that are directing German naval policy have reached the conclusion that the under-sea boat, as perfected by the achievements of German genius, is now capable of disputing, with fair promise of success, the British dic- tum: "Britannia Rules the Wave." The issue as affecting the world is: Will the submarine furnish a new basis of sea power? The an- swer to that question involves the very existence of Germany, and Germany's success would not invade the right of any other nation to its share of that sea power. The vic- tory of the submarine would not mean the concentration of might on the oceans in the hands of one na- tion. It would mean its distribu- tion among all the maritime na- tions.— March 3, 1916. NO WAR OVER ARMED LINERS In Washington on Friday the Senators were called upon to decide whether they were prepared to go to the length of war to defend the "rights" of American citizens to travel on armed belligerent liners. By a vote of 68 to 14 the Senators 53 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS informed the world that they were not prepared to go to war for this cause. It was Senator Gore who, by a skilled parliamentary move, unpar- alleled in the history of Congress, put before the upper house the de- cision that would eventually have to eoi ne before them if we should maintain our present attitude to- ward the attack of German subma- rines upon armed British liners. Senator Gore obtained a final an- swer. For weeks the Gore resolution has been pending, a resolution warning Americans from traveling on armed belligerent merchant ships. The administration wanted this resolu- tion defeated; that is, it wanted the Senate to assert the right of Amer- icans to travel on these vessels. But upon this issue there was much Sen- ate opinion that differed from that of the administration. For exam- ple. Senator Stone, chairman of the Senate committee on foreign rela- tions, was in favor of keeping our citizens off armed ships and would have had to vote for the Gore meas- ure if it had come up directly. Therefore, the best which the Democratic leaders in the Senate could promise to the administration was to table the Gore resolution; that is, leave the issue still open, to be decided when an American should be killed on an armed Brit- ish ship. Then Congress would have to determine how far such an American had been within his rights and whether we would 2,0 to war to avenge him. Such was the situation when the Senate convened on Frida}% The Senate committee on foreign rela- tions reported the Gore resolution and recommended that it be tabled. All debate was shut off and a vote called for. However, Senator Gore could not be refused his request to "perfect'' his resolution. He did this by striking out all but the purely formal preamble and mak- ing the thing a resolution stating that the killing by a submarine of an American on an armed belliger- ent ship would be a cause for war between the United States and the German empire. Then Gore voted to table his own resolution. Before the resolution was voted on, other Senators tried to speak on it. But the very gag rule which the Democratic leaders were en- forcing prevented them from dis- cussing the perfected resolution. They had to vote on tabling it and they tabled it, 68 to 14. If the Senate had tabled the original Gore resolution, the admin- istration might feel that it indi- rectly had sanctioned the present stand toward Germany, in that the Senators refused to warn Americans •from armed liners. As it is, by a vote of 68 to 11 the Senate de- clared that it would not sanction war as a means of* enforcing the policy to which our present diplo- macy is committing us. The President may feel that the Senate and the people are solid be- hind him in the policy of keeping us out of this war on any such issue as Americans risking their lives on British merchant ships, armed and instructed to sink submarines. — March 6, 1916. "ARMED FOR DEFENSE" At this crisis it is worth while to present to ourselves the issue as to armed merchant vessels and subma- rines. Many attempts have been THE SUBMARINE ISSUE 53 made to becloud the issue, which is in itself a clear and simple one. One warship, of course, can be sunk by another without warning; for example, a British cruiser by a German submarine. Armed mer- chantmen have been considered to be in the warship class, and so sus- ceptible of being sunk without warnr ing, unless the armament was ob- viously of defensive character. In this latter case the hostile warship could exercise against the merchant vessel only the right of visit and search, with whatever further pow- ers the results of the search might authorize. What was defensive armament? It was armament not defensive against a hostile warship, but against pirates who a hundred years ago infested certain seas. This rule meant: A British sailing vessel, re- turning from the Far East, could not be sent to the bottom without warning by a hostile French frigate on the ground of being a war vessel because it carried guns. The condition of immunity for the merchant craft was that its guns should be too small to be able to cope with the warship, which in- stead of sinking it held it up and searched it. The merchant ship's guns could not be of sufficient size so that, if the warship came up near, the merchantman would be able to fire into the warship and sink it. Such power in the merchant ship's armament sufficed to make it a war- ship. No one would dare to ap- proach and search it if so armed. So merchant craft, in order to re- tain their innocent character and be immune from being sunk at sight, could not carry guns large enough to seriously injure a warship if it came alongside. The merchant ship was allowed to carry small guns be- cause even if she tried to act treacherously with them when the warship came up, the latter would be merely stung, not mortally wounded, and would at once sink the traitor. That is, merchant vessels could be armed only defensively with small guns to keep off pirates. This is the full meaning of defensive arma- ment. Mere possession of the power to injure an approaching war vessel — the possession of this power put the merchantman into the warship class and rendered it liable to being sunk without warning. Now appears a new warship, the submarine. Any armament can sink it. The presence of a three- inch gun on a merchant vessel makes it impossible for a submarine to emerge and come alongside for search. x\ three-inch gun could pierce the frail shell of the subma- rine or could shoot its periscopes away and then, when it submerged to escape total destruction, it would be blind. In order to be incapable of mor- tally wounding a submarine, a mer- chant ship must carry no armament at all. The excuse of carrying ar- mament to resist pirates no longer exists; there are no pirates now. Arms on merchant vessels can only be for the purpose of destroying sub- marines. According to the estab- lished rules of international law, this sort of armament takes the merchant vessel out of the merchant class and makes it a warship. War- ships may be sunk by submarines without warning. How the British merchant ship's guns are to be used against a sub- marine is clearly set forth in the instructions to these craft issued by 54 THE (JRAYEST 3G6 DAYS the admiralty, recently cabled to this country by the British govern- ment. The merchant vessel is to open fire on any submarine ap- proaching or pursuing it, both of which actions are necessary for boarding and searching. That is, British merchant vessels are in- structed to sink any submarine that emerges and approaches. All these changed conditions of naval warfare were in Mr. Lansing's mind when he wrote the entente powers : My government is impressed with the reasonableness of the argument that a merchant vessel carrying armament of any sort, in view of the character of submarine warfare and the defensive weakness of underseas craft, should be held to be an auxiliary cruiser and so treated by a neutral as well as by a belligerent government. For an American to take a trip on a British armed liner, which our government has designated as an auxiliary cruiser, is to expose him- self to the destruction which, Mr. Lansing intimates, the vessel de- serves.-— Mar. 1. li»16. BEFORE THE BAR OF NEU- TRAL PUBLIC OPINION The facts in the controversy re- garding submarines and armed liners are now all before the public. "Washington at last has published the appendices to the German mem- orandum ol' a week ago. giving fac- similes o( the captured instructions to masters of British merchant ves- sels, instructions regarding the pro- cedure against approaching subma- rines. London has had a chance to comment upon these appendices. The briefs and arguments are in. The case is up for judgment by America. On August 4, 1914, the British charge at Washington wrote to our State department and warned US to guard German merchant vessels from escaping from our ports to the high seas, there to be converted and armed to attack British commerce: I lis majesty's government will hold the United States responsible for any damage to British trade or shipping, or injury to British interests generally, which may be caused by such vessels being equipped at or departing from United States ports. While Germany was to be bound, Britain was to be free. On August !» a further British communication was handed to us, stating that we had no right to interfere with com- ing and going of British merchant- men, armed "solely for the purpose of defense." On August 1!' ami 20 we sent an- swers to the British notes. We de- nied the international validity of Britain's claim that German ships could not lawfully be converted into cruisers on the high seas. AVe dis- claimed any responsibility as to the effect on British interests, if this conversion should occur. We ac- knowledged, without comment, re- ceipt of the British viewpoint re- garding the harmless nature of armed British merchant ships. It was obvious that we were not con- vinced. Therefore, on August 25, Spring- Rice handed us a. note dictated by Sir Edward Grey: I have at the same time been in- structed by his majesty's principal secre- tary of state for foreign affairs to give the United States government the full- est assurance that British merchant ves- sels will never be used for purposes of attack, that they are merely peaceful traders armed only for defense that they will never fire unless first fired upon, and that they never will under any cir- cumstances attack auy vessel. THE SUBMARINE ISSUE 55 Upon this definite promise we agreed to allow defensively armed British liners to enter our ports. The Germans had in the meantime been urging us not to do this. In a note to Bernstorff of September 19 we informed him of our decision. We clearly stated that: The presence of armament and am-, munition on board a merchant vessel creates a presumption that the armament is for offensive purposes, but the owners or agents may overcome this presump- tion by evidence showing that the vessel carries armament solely for defense. In various ways the presumption of the offensive nature of any arma- ment at all might be removed. The most important evidence was the above declaration of Spring-Rice. Other evidences of innocent pur- pose were that the guns were small, few and not mounted forward, and That the vessel is manned by its usual crew, and the officers are the same as those on board before war was declared. The grounds on which we were to judge the innocence of armed ves- sels were thus determined in the first two months of the war. In the light of events since then, what judgment must we pass upon the guiltless status of these vessels? Our whole submarine controversy with Germany has been designed to force the submarines to cease sink- ing unarmed, unresisting merchant vessels without warning. We in- sisted that the submarines should visit and search merchantment and, if they sank them, only to do so after safeguarding crews and pas- sengers. The implication in all our correspondence is that submarines are warships with a lawful right of visit and search, and that resistance to the exercise of this right deprives merchantment of immunity. Our German correspondence dragged on. Finally Germany let us write, for her to si^n, a Lusitania note that would be satisfactory to us, and Bernstorff dispatched this note to Berlin, which in due time approved it. In the meantime our State de- partment had become convinced that the very power of merchant ships to attack the frail submarine rendered it impossible for the latter to per- form that visit and search which, we insisted, should be substituted for the fundamental right of the sub- marine, as a warship, to destroy. So Lansing wrote the entente powers advising them to take arms off merchant vessels: My government is impressed with the reasonableness of the argument that a merchant vessel carrying armament of any sort, in view of the character of the submarine warfare and the defensive weakness of the undersea craft, should be held to be an auxiliary cruiser, and so treated by a neutral as well as by a belligerent government. Basing on this note of ours, Ger- many issued her sea order declar- ing that after March 1 her subma- rines would torpedo on sight all armed British merchant vessels. We have sent no official answer to this German order, though Congress made it clear that we shall not go to war to avenge an American sunk on what the Secretary of State calls a British "auxiliary cruiser." The entente powers have not yet an- swered our suggestion that they dis- arm their merchant vessels; their officials intimate that they will re- fuse. To-day the question raised by the new published instructions to mas- ters of British merchantmen regard- ing "defensive" use of armament is 56 T11K (JKAVEST 366 DAYS whether Great Britain has not com- mitted a serious broach of her plighted word to us iu August, 1914. These instructions were captured by a German submarine from a British steamer in the western Med- iterranean. When the news first became public of these British ad- miralty orders that '•defensively"' armed merchant vessels should at- tack approaching submarines, the admiralty said that the captured in- structions were antiquated, and had been replaced by those of October 80, 1915. But the October 30 or- der, as cabled to us by the admir- alty. Mas in no import respect dif- ferent from the earlier order, sub- mitted by the Germans. The ad- miralty's preferred version is: li is important, therefore, that craft of this description (hostile submarines) should be allowed to approach to short range, at which a torpedo or bomb launched without notice would almosl certainly be effective. Consequently it may be presumed that any submarine or aircraft which deliberately approaches or pursues a merchant vessel does so with hostile intentions. In such cases tire may be opened iu self defense iu order to prevent the hostile craft from closing to a range at which resistance to a sud- den attack with bomb or torpedo would not be possible. How does this aeeord with the definite promise to us o\' August 25, 191 1 ? British merchant vessels will never tire unless tirst tired upon, and they will never under any circumstances attack any vessel. Are these the "unarmed, unre- sisting" merchantmen which we re- quire the submarine, after emerg- ing, to approach, visit and search? The other documents in the Ger- man "find" are not denied by Lon- don. One is the following: Ratings embarked as gun's crew will sign the ship's articles at the rate of pay communicated. Uniform is not to be worn in neutral ports. That is, a naval gun crew is shipped on the peaceful trader. But they are not to appear as such in neutral ports. Evidently the Brit- ish admiralty desires to prevent us from knowing that they have ob- literated one of Lansing's marks of defensive armament: That the vessel is manned by its usual crew, and the officers are the same as those on Board before war was de- clared. Finally, the British consciousness of guilt is clearly shown in the fol- lowing highly confidential commu- nication to the ship's master : In no circumstances is this paper to be allowed to fall into the hands of the enemy. This paper is for the master's per- sonal information. It is not to be copied, ami when not actually in use is to be kept in safety iu a place where it can be destroyed at a moment's notice. The paper referred to is the paper of instructions regarding the treat- ment of approaching submarines, from which extracts have here been given. In the light of these facts, the British government will soon know what official Washington thinks of the defensive armament of peaceful British traders. It will learn how far we think we can base our policy in this momentous matter solely on the word of Sir Edward Grey. His majesty's government can already figure out for itself our attitude when we receive its expected refusal to disarm these innocent halcvons of the sea.— Mar. 23, 1916. THE SUBMARINE ISSUE 57 UNDERSEA FREIGHT CARRIERS Many a dream of yesterday is a tangible fact of to-day. Many a flight of scientific speculation has found expression in an effective structure of steel and steam and electricity. Daedalus and his wings of wax, which melted in the sun, was only the precursor of Langley and the Curtiss brothers and Wright and Pegoud, with their wonderful flying machines, constructed on the principle which failed the classic flyer when the test came. When Jules Verne wrote his famous novel, "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea," the world called him a dreamer. And yet to-day the re- alization of his dream is one of the main issues in a great international complication. The submarine has proved a for- midable weapon in warfare. It is now proposed to make it a carrier of trade. There is no inherent rea- son to doubt the practicability of a project now discussed in Berlin, for the construction of great commerce- carrying submarines, each with a freight capacity of 2,000 tons, to ply between Hamburg and New York. A fleet of a hundred such boats, it is estimated by a Berlin dreamer who may turn out to be a prophet, could carry annually 150,- 000 tons of imports and a similar quantity of exports between Ger- many and America. Of the interna- tional results of such a departure in the carrying equipment of Germany, the ingenious Berliner writes The submarine freighter also would quite demonstrate the folly of England's claimed rule of the seas. The freedom of the seas would become a reality. Our shipbuilders, engineers and constructors should now take the floor and say whether or not the submarine freighter is Jin achievable possibility of the near future. All of which sounds somewhat fanciful to-day; but achievements which appeared far more difficult of accomplishment a generation ago are now among the familiar things of our civilization. — Mar. 24, 1916. ADDED DIFFICULTIES IN THE SUBMARINE CONTRO- VERSY With England in its present state of mind the settlement of the sub- marine controversy is still far away. The reason is that this controversy cannot he settled apart from the British blockade of Germany, against which the submarine warfare is a retaliation. Great Britain now offi- cially announces that she will not return to the limits of law along with Germany. The announcement is made in London by Lord Cecil, British war trade minister. The news is not without interest, and discouragement, for America. We cannot make one combatant to abide by the rules of the game and allow the other to make his own rules. England's attitude has hi rxked our progress toward assert- ing humanity and law. The dispatch from London is correctly headlined in New York: "Britain spurns peace terms; Cecil speaks for England; rejects with contempt the peace suggestions of Bethmann-Hollweg." To those who have read the Wednesday speech of the German chancellor it may seem wonderful that any human being could see in it peace suggestions. 58 THE GRAYEST 366 DAYS But Lord Cecil does, and spurns them thus: Conversing with American corre- spondents on behalf of the Foreign of- fice. Lord Robert said that the sugges- tion that Germany might abandon her submarine warfare, if Great Britain re- laxed her food blockade, was hardly like- ly to be entertained by Great Britain, which had no faith that any promise made by Germany regarding submarine warfare would be kept. It is recalled that our quarrel with England is older than our quarrel with Germany. The illegal British ''blockade" of Germany was begun by the British Order in Coun- cil of August 20, 1914, and per- fected by the British Order in Council of March 11, 1915. The German submarine campaign, in retaliation for this attempted star- vation of German civilian popula- tion, was not initiated until Feb- ruary 18, 1915. In two strong notes to Britain, dated December 26,1914, and March 30, 1915, we set forth our inten- tion to bring her back to the limits of international law. On March 30 we said that acquiescence in the British form of blockade would for- feit both our rights and our neu- trality, which required us to trade with both belligerents when no law- ful blockade exists. We explained the illegality of the blockade to be the fact that it was not effective and did not exclude all neutrals from trading with Germany. The essence of a blockade is that it must bear equally on all neutrals. So long as England's warships are afraid to enter the Baltic and so unable to bar Swedish and Norwegian ships from German Baltic ports like Stettin, Britain has no right to stop our ships destined to the same ports. There has never been any ques- tion that the American government has considered the British starva- tion and the German submarine pol- icy as joint and connected offenses against us. In the second half of February, 1915, England was claim- ing that her coming March 30 Or- der in Council, completing the blockade, was a retaliation against the submarine warfare, while Ger- many was claiming that the sub- marine warfare was a retaliation against a starvation policy that be- gan on August 20, 1914. We ac- cepted the statements of both and cut the Gordian knot by asking them to forego their acts of retaliation and remove the causes of retaliation. We asked Germany to give up her submarine warfare. We asked Eng- land to let food go to Germany for the civilian population, to be dis- tributed by American consular offi- cials. Germany agreed, England refused. The subsequent course of events is fresh in all American minds. On May 7 the Lvsitania was sunk without warning, and our govern- ment then turned to the task of curbing the more sensational viola- tions of our rights, namely, those perpetrated by Germany. By the end of 1915 we had modified the original German submarine policy — a policy of summarily sinking all British ships in and out of England — to the extent of exacting a prom- ise that no passenger liner, unarmed and unresisting, would be sunk with- out warning. There is only one reason why we did not succeed in winning for all British merchant vessels, both pas- senger and freight steamers, a Ger- man promise of visit and search in- stead of summary destruction. The THE SUBMARINE ISSUE 59 reason is that Britain refused to ac- cept our suggestion that she disarm her merchant vessels and so make it safe and possible for a submarine to rise, visit and search. Secretary Lansing has said that armed ves- sels are "auxiliary cruisers" and so suitable for unwarned destruction. Hence this country cannot well make any move to protect them. Germany has never said that she would visit and search British freight boats other than passenger steamers, so long as Britain refuses to disarm these freight boats. Nor can we enforce such a policy. For a submarine to emerge and ap- proach a freighter that may carry a concealed six-inch gun is to commit suicide. Nothing is clearer and simpler than that we have come to the end of the concessions that we can ex- tort from Germany unless we at the same time force a return to law on the part of England, equally an offender. So long as we fail to thwart the illegal British attempt to starve Germany, we cannot whol- ly remove the retaliation against that starvation policy. Whether the attempt at starva- tion is gradually proving success- ful ; whether by self-denial the Ger- mans are effectively meeting the sit- uation, or whether the attempt is being partly successful and German babies are dying of a milk famine because there is no cattle fodder — all this is immaterial. An attempt was made to starve the civilian pop- ulation of Germany. English states- men in the first year of the war openly boasted of its success. It is hypocrisy to say that the starvation was directed against the military. Every one knows that the military is fed first and famine falls upon the non-combatants. If we do not bring England away from this starvation plan we cannot entirely thwart Ger- many's reply, an attempt to starve the civilian population of England with the only means at her hand, namely, the use of submarines to sink the carriers of England's food supply. We have the power to force both belligerents jointly to forego their illegal acts : Germany to renounce her submarines as a weapon against merchant steamers, England to re- nounce her starvation plan. The time has come to force these offend- ers to abide by the law ; the time for merely suggesting it is past. It is this which Lord Cecil fears. It is this joint return to law against ' which he protests. England wants us to apply to the very letter the law against Germany, but England is to be free from abiding even by its spirit. This cannot be also Washington's viewpoint. Is it for Lord Cecil to tell us that we cannot force Ger- many wholly to forego the use of submarines if we once get her to promise to do so? Lord Cecil knows, as every one else does, that we have not been able to get any broad, definite and binding promise from Germany because of our fail- ure to take action against the Brit- ish starvation policy with which the German abuse of submarines is in- separably connected. And now Lord Cecil confirms the impression that has been fastening itself in Ameri- can minds, that this British conces- sion — the sine qua non of further advance — is not to be had for the asking, but must be compelled by the exercise of pressure the means for which a protecting fate has put into our hands. — April 11, 1916. 60 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS A CHANCE FOR DIPLOMACY. By Edwin J. Clapp. {Author of "Economic Aspects of the War.") The Evening World of yesterday suggested a way out of the deadlock that now confronts Germany and America. It is worth the thought- ful consideration of people in Ber- lin. The Evening World proposes that Germany suspend her illegal and murderous submarine warfare against British merchantmen and trust to the fairness of the American government and the American peo- ple to see to it that England also is brought back to the limits of law. Suppose to-morrow the papers were to contain the following note from Germany in answer to ours of lsat Wednesday: The imperial German government is constrained to recognize the jus- tice of the demands of the Ameri- can government that Germany re- turn to the limits of law as univers- ally accepted before the outbreak of the war. Until further notice, there- fore, the imperial German govern- ment will not use its submarines against any merchant vessel except to exercise the traditional right of visit and search, together with any rights that may grow out of the re- sults of that search. The imperial German govern- ment, however, does this with the firmest confidence that the same pressure applied to it will now be applied to the British govern- ment to force that government to renounce a starvation campaign against Germany through a block- ade which the American government in its note of March 30, 1915, de- scribed as illegal and indefensible, and a measure in which America could not acquiesce without forfeit- ing its rights and violating its neu- trality. It is against this starvation campaign, as all the world knows, that the German submarine policy is a reprisal. The imperial German government recalls to the attention of the Amer- ican government the American pol- icy as announced in the note to Germany dated July 21, 1915 : The government of the United States and the imperial German government are contending for the same object, have long stood to- gether in urging the very principles upon which the United States now so solemnly insists. They are both contending for the freedom of the seas. The government of the United States will continue to contend for that freedom, from whatever quarter violated, without compromise and at any cost. The imperial German Govern- ment, hereby removing what Amer- ica has designated as a violation of the freedom of the seas from one quarter, now confidently expects America to cause the removal of what it has designated as a viola- tion of this same principle from an- other quarter. If it should prove impracticable for the American government to bring the British government back to the limits of law, the German submarine repris- als against this illegal blockade will be resumed. It would be obviously unfair and unjust — and contrary to the spirit of fair play of the Ameri- can people and the American gov- ernment — if neutral America were to insist that one belligerent should abide by the very letter of the law, while another were left free to vio- late both its letter and its spirit. Does any human being imagine THE SUBMAEINE ISSUE 61 that America would not fulfil the trust imposed in her hy this sort of surrender ? But there is no question that England would yield. We have economic pressure which' she can- not resist, and all the world knows it. Such a note from Germany would finally result in a recovery of. international law for the neutral world.— April 22, 1916. OUR TWO POSITIONS ON ARMED MERCHANT SHIPS No one ought to remain unclear as to the nature of the memoran- dum on armed merchantmen made public by the State department yes- terday. It is stated that this mem- orandum represents the official po- sition of our government in the question of armed freighters and submarines. The memorandum, by granting to freighters the widest possible latitude in using their guns against submarines, practically makes it impossible for the sub- marines to rise, approach and exer- cise that process of visit and search which we are trying to force them to substitute for unwarned destruc- tion. Our quarrel with Germany can be definitely settled only by the aboli- tion of under-water attacks on trad- ing vessels. There are two clear paths that lead to a settlement of this quarrel. If we follow one path, we shall force England to give up her illegal starvation war against Germany. If that occurs, the sub- marine war on England's food car- riers, designed by the Germans as a retaliation, falls of its own weight. The Evening World of April 14th suggests a way by which Germany could make it easier for us to bring about this joint return of both Ger- many and England to the limits of law. The Evening World suggests that Germany suspend the operation of her submarines against British food carriers, relying on the honor and neutrality of America to exer- cise on England's lawlessness the same pressure exercised on Ger- many's. If Germany's forthcoming note takes this course, we shall be friends with her again, and she will attain the end sought by her whole submarine war, namely, the abolition of the British "blockade." However, Mr. Lansing may not take any measures against England at all, and yet insist that Germany cease all unwarned attacks on- Brit- ish freighters, using the submarines only to exercise the right of visit and search, together with any rights that may grow out of the results of that search. The best we can hope is that Germany will accede to these restrictions on condition that we get England to agree to disarm her food-carrying vessels. So long as England refuses to do this — so long as all her freighters, or any of them, carry guns that can pierce the frail hull of an approaching submarine — just so long we cannot tell sub- marines that they must restrict themselves to visit and search. If we do tell them this, in effect we tell them that they cannot exercise the rights of a warship against a trader without committing suicide. In plain words, they cannot enjoy the rights of warships. For us to insist that England, as the price of immunity from sub- marines, shall disarm her freight- ers, will simply be an application of old principles of international law to the new conditions of naval war- fare. Formerly, when all warships 62 THE GEAYEST 366 DAYS were above the water, a merchant vessel was allowed to carry small guns and yet be classed as a trader, not to be summarily sunk. The small guns were to give the trader protect ion not against the warship but against Barbary and Chinese pirates. If the merchantman car- ried guns largo enough to injure an approaching warship, the merchant- man would not be approached at all, but sunk from a distance, as a naval vessel. The principle was: Immun- ity for a trader ceased when her armament was such as to endanger an approaching warship. Apply the principle to the case in hand. The submarine is a warship. Any armament is sufficient to sink her as she comes to the surface and approaches. Therefore, any arma- ment on a trader forefeits the trad- er's immunity. Barbary and Chi- nese pirates are no more; any guns are for the purpose of sinking sub- marines. All this was in the mind of Mr. Lansing when early this year he wrote to the entente powers, ask- ing them to disarm their merchant vessels : My government is impressed with the reasonableness of the argument that a merchant vessel carrying armament of any sort, in view of the character of the submarine warfare and the defensive weakness of the undersea craft, should be held to be an auxiliary cruiser, and so treated by a neutral as well as by a belligerent government. The offensive nature of the Brit- ish guns on their traders is proven by documents captured by Germany from the steamer Woodfield, sub- mitted to us, and not denied but confirmed by the British admiralty. The guns are served by naval gun- ners placed aboard the trader, with admiralty orders to fire on an ap- proaching submarine. Great Britain, answering Mr. Lansing's note, refused to disarm her merchant steamers. We then proceeded to insist that Germany give up her submarine warfare, and we let drop our contention to Eng- land that armed traders, being "auxiliary cruisers,''" were not im- mune from sudden destruction. Xot only does this new memorandum of ours drop our contention, but it turns directly about and says that merchant vessels have a perfect right to arm against submarines and that, in spite of traders carry- ing armament — which we once said made them "auxiliary cruisers'' — the submarines must not touch them without visit and search. According to the interpretation current in Washington, there are two main points in the State depart- ment's memorandum. It says that a submarine must assume that an armed British merchant vessel is armed for defense only, until the guns are actually used against the submarine. It says that the mere presence, on board British traders, of admiralty attack orders, like those found on board the Wood- field, is not sufficient to prove that the trader's armament is for offense. The attack orders must carry pen- alty for the merchant captain whose ship disobeys them, in order to prove the guns to be of offensive nature. If we thus reverse our previous position and stand on the present memorandum, we deny to the sub- marine a warship's right of control over merchant vessels. We deny to the submarine the right which the floating war vessels exercise: The right to sink at sight a trader so armed as to endanger the approach of the war vessel. In case Ger- THE SUBMARINE ISSUE 63 many docs not simply accede to our demands, we hereby make it in- finitely more difficult to enforce those demands. She considers that we are insisting on immunity for British food vessels without at the same time requiring that these ves- sels, to have immunity, shall con- form to the ancient principle of re- • during their armament below the point of danger for an approaching warship. Our first position on the question of the relative rights of submarine and armed merchant ships is more logical than our second one, more in accord with the established prin- ciples of international law and more likely to avoid a conflict between America and Germany. Above all else, we cannot afford to deny to the submarine all rights of the older types of warships. The submarine is an American invention. Both for offense and defense against a power which holds the seas, the submarine is an unequaled weapon. And to-day we do not want to throw away any freedom of action for our own submarines in a future war in which we may not hold the seas. It is fortunate that in this ques- tion of the naval rights of sub- marines we have two positions, and that in case of need we can revert to the logical, the first one. — April 29, 1916. OUR SUBMARINES The present question as to the proper position for the United States to take upon the matter of armed traders and submarines is complicated by the necessity of con- sidering what is to our own ad- vantage. If we unduly restrict the power of German submarines now, in the interest of British commerce, we may set precedents which will return to plague us in the future. Such abstract questions as the relative rights of submarines and food vessels become very concrete when we consider definite cases of w.-ii- in which the United States may be involved in the future. A war with Japan is by no means impos- sible. It is also by no means im- possible that in such a war Japan will be our superior on the sea. Our only means of attacking her would be by the use of submarines. Her vulnerable spot would be her food supply, for like England she does not feed herself but is dependent upon food from overseas. Let us assume these very pos- sible conditions and see how our only power to reach Japan would be destroyed by the precedents which some want us to create in the pres- ent struggle between England and Germany. It is the American-Japanese war of 1920. An American submarine sights a Japanese ship with pro- visions from Germany. Our sub- marine wants to prevent these pro- visions from reaching Japan; the submarine has no desire to sink the passengers and crew of the ship. It would like to halt the ship and, be- fore sinking it, take off the crew and passengers, later towing them to safety. But Japan, acting on Eng- land's precedents in the war of 1916, has refused to disarm her food car- riers. If the American submarine rises to order the Japanese . vessel to stop, the latter's concealed gun will sink our frail craft. The Ger- man government, acting on a prece- dent set by the United States in the war of 1916, has warned us that we 64 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS cannot sink Japanese carriers of German food until after visit and search, without incurring a diplo- matic break, and war with Germany. But the Japanese nierchantman's guns will not allow us to visit and search. We dare not risk war with Germany. We dare not sink these Japanese ships which refuse to let us visit and search them. So our submarines are powerless. That is, if the memorandum is- sued last Wednesday by the State department becomes the official stand of the administration, the adminis- tration will make for us a bed in which' we may not want to lie. The wise thing for this govern- ment to do is to abolish the use of sea power to starve a civiliaD pop- ulation — unless a lawful and com- plete blockade is maintained. That is, we should abolish the present il- legal starvation campaign of both England and Germany. But if we are'going to allow international law to be recast, and if we are going to allow the old-fashioned warships to do as they choose to starve the civilian enemy, then let us create this freedom of action also for the democratic submarine which all na- tions can use. Let us not create freedom of action solely for the benefit of England, who alone is certain to control the surface of the seas in future wars. To retain for our submarines in the future the same power that will be exercised by an opponent that will hold the seas against us, it is necessary for us to revert to our earlier stand on the question of sub- marines and armed traders. In our own future interest, it is necessary to see to it that if British food ves- sels are to be immune from un- warned submarine attacks, they must drop their weapons of resistance to submarine visit and search. In other words, our own future demands that we recognize tbe sub- marine as a warship. — May 2, 1916. THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ISLAND EMPIRE In Washington last week, at a meeting of the American Society of International Law, Capt. W. L. Rod- gers, U. S. N., told his hearers that German submarines have succeeded in challenging the supremacy of the British navy. On the following day Mr. Lans- ing told the same society that the in- ternal combustion engine, through making possible aircraft and the submarine, had revolutionized war- fare. He compared the change to the change wrought by gunpowder. The internal combustion engine, used in aeroplane and submarine, has made surprise almost impossible on land and has vastly increased the pos- sibility of surprise at sea. Mr. Lansing could have said more. He could have said that the submarine spells the downfall of the supremacy of the island empires and the rise of the supremacy of con- tinental countries like ours, whose food supply is in itself and need not come from oversea. Every schoolboy recalls the classic tribute of Shakespeare to the im- pregnability of England in Richard II.: This royal throne of kings, this sceptered isle, This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, This other Eden, demi-paradise, This fortress built by Nature for herself Against infection and the hand of war; This happy breed of men, this little world, THE SUBMARINE ISSUE 65 This precious stone set in the silver sea, Which serves it in the office of a wall Or as a moat defensive to a house, Against the envy of less happier lands — This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England. But to-day the sea no longer serves England as a wall, or as a moat defensive to a house. Through the industrialization of England, it has become a workshop for the world, where nearly 50,000,000 people are engaged in manufacturing goods to be exported in return for raw ma- terials and food to feed the home population. The seas must be kept open; that is, free passage must be secured for food vessels, else the nation starves. But free and un- hindered passage for food vessels is no longer secured by control of the surface of the water. Out of its depths comes a stern and unrelenting "Halt !" The other island empire, Japan, is in a similar position. Like England, Japan is dependable on food from oversea. The submarine is a wonderful de- fensive weapon for continental coun- tries, and is for them an irresistible weapon of offense against all island powers built upon open sea routes. The short-sighted course of England in this war is forcing the starvation campaign upon the world as a recog- nized method of civilized warfare. At the very outbreak of the war England, by banning foodstuffs for Germany, established the principle that sea power may be used to starve an entire nation, in spite of the fact that that sea power does not as- sume the obligation of maintaining a lawful blockade. We have acqui- esced in this principle at least tacit- ly, by not forbidding it. We cannot for long hold back German sub- marines from carrying to England the same starvation which England designed against the German civil- ian population. British diplomacy has made a thorny bed for British citizens to lie in. By forcing England and Germany both to renounce their starvation campaign, we can, to be sure, save England in this war. But in all future wars a power dependent on oversea food supply can never again be the autocrat of the world. The reason is that such a power is indefensibly vulnerable to any coun- try that can support a hundred sub- marines. Submarines are not costly; they are a democratic instru- ment. Any smaller nation with a self-sufficient food supply or with land connections to neutral sources of food supply can answer the threat of the sea power of England or Japan with a threat ten times more terrible. Gunpowder meant the democra- tizing of land warfare; the feudal knight could not resist the serf who held a gun. Submarines mean the democratizing of sea power. In- vented in America and perfected in Germany, the submarine has broken the wall, filled up the defensive moat of the island empire. It has wrenched the trident from the ancient lords of the sea. — May 3, 1916. A PRESIDENTIAL VICTORY The President has won a great victory. Britain, at the outbreak of the war, set out to starve Ger- many by stopping all food going to Germany. It was a crass violation of international law. Germany re- taliated by an attempt to starve England by torpedoing freight car- 66 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS riers in and out of England. To be sure. England's violation of in- ternational law came first, and the inhumanity of ilie attempt to starve a nation is perhaps equal to the in- humanity of sinking passengers and crews of British vessels without warning. But more neutral lives were Lost through Germany's action, and the President, spokesman for humanity, insisted on settling the German issue first He has resist- ed all pressure from all sources to make England and Germany jointly return to the limits o( law. tier- many must return first. In to-day's note Germany does re- turn. Without reserve she gives up the practice of torpedoing without warning British vessels, armed or unarmed, passenger or freight car- riers. Every ship that sails the seas is now as safe as if the submarine had never been invented. Germany lays down the submarine arm by whose use she challenged British naval supremacy. The President has won a glorious victory. He has created for himself the path to an imperishable fame. He may he known as the arbiter of na- tions, the savior of international law and international morality. He may force a complete return to law at sea. a return which will obviate the present necessity that nations, in self-defense, arm to the teeth. The German suggestion that the President might he now expected to remove England's violations of law- is a piece of gratuitous advice that no one asked for. Xo one so well as the President knows the oppor- tunities that confront him to-day. In his note to Germany regarding the Lusitania in July, 1915, he said that America would defend the principle of the freedom of the seas — the right o( neutrals to trade and travel freely in wartime — against all who violate it, without compromise and at any cost. One of our offenders having thus recanted, we need not he told of our own intention to bring the other one promptly to hook. The President's one-track mind has been freed of the German traf- fic congestion. Signals now read "clear" for the waiting train of the British issue. It will travel the same unerring road which the Ger- man issue has already passed over. — May 5, 1916. ARMED LINER ISSUE DEAD Hesitancy to accept the German note as a full concession to our demands is accounted for largely by the misinterpretation, on the part of some members of the press, of one phrase of the note. The phrase is contained in the new in- structions to submarine command- ers : Iu accordance with the general princi- ples of visit and search and the destruc- tion of merchant vessels recognized by international law. sueh vessels, both within and without the area declared a naval war zone, shall not be sunk with- out warning and without savins; human lives, unless the ship attempt to eseape or offer resistance. The phrase "recognized by inter- national law" refers to the "general principles of visit and search and the destruction of merchant ves- sels." It does not refer to "•mer- chant vessels" alone. That is, un- warned sinking is to cease for all merchant vessels, armed or un- armed. The submarine will, in the manner allowed by international law. stop, visit and search merchant THE SUBMARINE ISSUE 67 vessels. If they prove to be lawful prizes the submarine will then, in accordance with international law, proceed to destroy them after saving lives on board. A captor may de- stroy his prize if he finds it incon- venient to take the prize into port. A proper understanding of the German concessions removes any fear that Germany has allowed the controversy over "armed liners" to prevent a full understanding with us.— May 10, 1916. GERMANY MAKING GOOD On Julv 5 an editorial in the Chi- cago Herald ran as follows: Germany has made good on her latest submarine promises. There has been no more Lusitanias, no more Sussexes, no more ruthless sinking of vessels carrying American citizens. The promises given to Presi- dent Wilson have been kept to the letter. American lives have been spared, Amer- ican property has been untouched, and Washington has not been compelled to resort to extreme measures. For the good faith which it has ex- hibited in this matter, for abiding strict- ly by the terms of its pledges, Germany is due recognition. To that extent the peace of the world has been advanced and the cause of international right set forward. The matter is one for common congratulation. The solid settlement of the Ger- man issue is a cause for satisfaction to the administration at Washing- ton. The Chicago Herald edito- rial also will serve to remind us that we have performed half the work which destiny entrusted to us as the greatest neutral nation in this world war. "We have corralled and tamed one of the offenders against the codes of international law and humanity. The other is still at large. Great Britain still pursues a policy of at- tempting to starve 50,000,000 ci- vilian men and women in Germany. The attempt is being pursued by means of a blockade which a year ago we designated as "ineffective, illegal and indefensible.'"' We have pointed out a glaring example of the ineffectiveness of the blockade in that Sweden trades unhindered with German Baltic ports. Then why may not we? The first essen- tial of a blockade is that it shall bear equally on all neutrals; that it shall shut all neutrals out of Ger- many or none, except ships carrying contraband of war. Thomas Jefferson tells us that for us to accede to such an illegal block- ade is to become a party to its law- less attempt on the lives of women and children. In March, 1915, we told Great Britain that we could not accede to this blockade without vio- lating the neutrality which we chose to observe. What of this British issue? What of our protests against the opening on the high seas of our mails to neutral countries? The "inviolabil- ity" of the mails has become a myth. These are matters which involve more than our rights, our material interests, our neutrality. On our preservation of international law depends the confidence with which the world that intends to be peace- ful will face the future. By our action or inaction we decide whether or not the seas, the currents of in- ternational commerce, belong to those who work and trade or to those who choose to fight and slay. Half our work is done. We shall leave a sorry record if we do not complete the other half. — July 10, 1916. 68 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS WALL STREET AND THE U-BOAT Why should the financial district have a chill and the prices of Amer- ican securities he depressed in the stock market because the undersea liner Deutschland arrived at Balti- more ? The giant submarine brought wealth to the United States — a wealth of dyes sorely needed in a thousand lines of American industry — and will take back to Germany products of America. If Wall Street's vision was not narrow it would see in the Deutsch- land's coming a thing of cheer and not of chill. It would see other Deutschlands carrying from our ports the yields of our farms, our factories and our mills. It would see more profit, more prosperity for our farmers, our manufacturers, our railroads, every one. It would see more trade by land and by sea, regardless of blockades, legal or illegal, so long as the war lasts. It would see in the Deutschland one of the real bull features of to-day. — July 11, 1916. SUBMARINES AND BLOCKADES An interesting question is the ef- fect which commercial submarines will have upon the legality of the British blockade of German North Sea ports, like Hamburg and Brem- en. Our State department has char- acterized the British blockade as "in- effective, illegal and indefensible," because it did not include German Baltic ports. With these ports Swe- den and the other Scandinavian countries trade undisturbed. There- fore, it is, we claim, unlawful for England to stop our exports to the German Baltic, for such stoppage — with Swedish exports permitted — is a violation of a prime element of true blockade; namely, impartial- ity Now the commercial submarine comes out of Bremen, a North Sea port. Sister ships are building to ply regularly between Bremen and our North Atlantic ports. They will regularly pass in and out of Bremen with practical certainty of not be- ing captured. That being the case, the question asks itself: What of the effectiveness of the British blockade of Bremen? What is an effective blockade? In the past it has meant the continuous presence, off the blockaded port, of enough warships to make it mani- festly dangerous for merchant ves- sels to get in or out past the block- aders. The British blockaders are not off Bremen. They are north of Scotland and in the English Chan- nel, intercepting ships that attempt to get past the British Isles, north or south of them. There are occa- sional British cruisers in the North Sea, perhaps enough of them to make it manifestly dangerous for Scandinavia to try to trade with Bremen. Let us assume that, up till now, Bremen has been blockaded. Obviously a blockading cordon under modern conditions of subma- rine warfare, must be far out from the blockaded port. The cordon cannot be expected to intercept every vessel that tries to go in or out. But the cordon must be so ef- fective that the chances are that a vessel will be caught if it tries to run through. If vessels can march THE SUBMARINE ISSUE 69 calmly past the blockading cordon with the practical certainty of not being caught, is the blockade still effective ? The commercial submarines will thus march past the blockading squadron, with the certainty of not being caught. Can the blockading squadron then lawfully stop other vessels that desire to proceed through the blockade, steamers and sailers? If a new development of the technique of merchant vessels enables a class of them to prove the blockade ineffective, must not the blockaders so develop the technique of their operations as to be able to catch the blockade breaker and re- assert the effectiveness of the block- ade? Until that reassertion occurs, must not the blockader admit the inaffectiveness of the blockade and desist from pretending to maintain it? For the United States in the pres- ent case, the question of whether or not Bremen is blockaded is perhaps an academic one. We know and have stated that the German Baltic porta are not lawfully blockaded and we shall assert our right to ship to them. However, the question as to the effect of commercial submarines on the effectiveness of the blockade of Bremen has a deep bearing on the whole future course of maritime warfare and maritime law. If the coming line of commercial subma- rines is to render the British block- ade of Bremen ineffective, then the blockade is a thing of the past. This is a question which in the im- mediate future will force itself upon the attention of the diplomats and the international lawyers of the world.— July 12, 1916.' ENGLAND AND THE SUB- MARINE FREIGHTER The arrival of the submersible freighter Deutschland grows in im- portance the more its possibilities are examined. We do not have to do with a single ship, but with the first ship of a new steamship line, steamers so built that they are im- mune from the blockade of a power that holds the seas. We may now hope that the obstructive attitude of Great Britain towards the de- velopment of maritime law in war time will be reversed. We may even hope that the way has been paved for introducing the principle of the immunity of private prop- erty at sea in war time. This is a principle for which the United States has always contended, from the Treaty of Paris in 1856 to the second Hague Conference in 1907. England is the manufacturing, trading and financial center of the world. She paid a price for turning herself into an interna- tional workshop; she became de- pendent upon other countries for oversea supplies of foodstuffs and raw materials. To guard this vital oversea line of communications, to prevent the starvation of 45,0000,- 000 people in the British Isles, the British navy was there. This was the defensive aspect of British sea power. { That sea power had also an of- fensive aspect. It could strike as well as guard. British warships could cut the oversea line of com- munications of any other country that had developed its foreign trade. For Britain had the strongest navy in the world. This possibility has hung over Germany like a sword of Damocles the last thirty-five years 70 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS while her foreign trade has been growing. The logical development of our repeated proposals of the immunity of private property at sea in war time would have been the abolition of blockades and contraband. No nation would have had to maintain a navy to guard its oversea lines of communication. The routes of trade would have been free from the dep- redations of war. This might seem precisely what England, with her vulnerable oversea trade, would want. The establishment of the free seas would have freed England from the fear of being struck But it would also have deprived her of her most terrible power to strike. With the most powerful navy in the world England was the sure gainer by the old order of things. She could not really be struck and no other power could escape her striking. That was in the days when war- ships and freighters were all on the surface. Now we have undersea warships. They seriously imperil the British line of communications; the navy that holds the seas is no defense against the submarine. We have curbed the German submarines in this war, at least temporarily. But there is every propect that their development in 'numbers, radius of action and armament will be such that in future wars com- merce carriers will be at their mercy. Nor ran the navy that holds the seas strike a deadly blow at other trading nations in the future, as the submersible freighter develops. In- less the principle of the free seas is proclaimed, nations after this war will go to any extreme to produce within their borders all the necessi- ties of national existence. Imports, for which no home substitute can be found, will be imported in sub- mersible freighters in war time. With her vulnerability as to her own commerce greatly increased and her striking power as to the com- merce of others greatly reduced by the development of the submarine, Great Britain may now be willing to join the other nations of the world in agreeing to exempt the commerce of those who choose to trade from destruction by those who choose to devastate and slay. — July 13, 1916. THE PRESS AND THE DEUTSCHLAND It is instructive to read the edi- torials of eastern papers regarding the advent of the submersible freighter Deutschland, her status under international law and her ef- fect thereon. The comments range from lavish praise to rebuke, and hack again to the patronizing re- mark of the Xew York Times that: At best the achievement of this bold craft will serve only to stir the wonder and promote the gayety of nations. It is as if the Times had seen the Deutschland at the Hippodrome. Similar is the judgment of the Hartford Courant as to the signif- icance of the event. The Cou- rant, apparently after reflection, decides to give the Deutschland mention in its editorial column, which is headed by this thrilling bit of international news : The Torrington Register of Saturday and the Norwich Record of Saturday came along yesterday with the Green- wich Graphic of Friday. Welcome, of course, but a trifle late. THE SUBMARINE ISSUE 71 The New York Journal of Com- merce is thrown into real distress at the thought of the international complications which the Deutsch- land may cause us if we allow her to take on a cargo here. The pur- pose of the hoat is to escape the law- ful British blockade and, the Jour- nal of Commerce feels we may lose our status as neutrals if we al- low her to use our ports and carry our goods. Its (the Dcutschland's) very purpose is one of evasion if not of direct viola- tion of what is called law between na- tions in time of war. . . . How about the obligations of neutrals in regard to the use of their ports for this kind of trade, which is deliberately planned and directed for the defeat of the blockade at the other end of the line. . . . Has a neutral country the right to permit its ports to be used in that way by one bel- ligerent power against another? We have been rude enough to that blockade already. Our secre- tary of state has called it "ineffect- ive, illegal and indefensible." If we now stand by and watch German submersible freighters make a per- fect farce of what is not a blockade in any case — why, no one will longer have any respect for it at all The Washington Herald sees in the arrival of the Deutschland a demonstration of Germany's power — and probably her intention — to invade us. The trip gives us notice that it is or soon will be within the power of the Germans to put submarines equipped with guns or torpedoes into any or all of our ports at will. The New York Evening Tele- gram has the most humorous ref- erence of all : By the way. the advent of the Deutschland is another Sunday happen- ing of extreme interest the Evening Tel- egram has given to the reading world. which it otherwise would have had to wait until Monday to learn of. The U-boat no doubt timed its arrival in recognition of our neutrality. No doubt. The conspiracy be- tween the Deutschland and the Evening Telegram will be proven if the boat has brought over enough German dyes for the paper again to don its all-pink garb. These airy comments are, to be fair, not typical of the editors of the country, who see the deep and wide significance of the event, laud the heroism of captain and crew and praise this new triumph of German genius. The Baltimore American frivolously remarks : Germany has the laugh on Great Britain for sure. The Albany Argus has an ex- cellent discussion of the status of the vessel under international law. The Argus contends that the sub- mersible freighter cannot be sunk without warning or without caring for safety of passengers and crew. The doctrines to which we have forced Germany to accede may yet be of the utmost value to her. . . . Doesn't it mean for future wars, even if too late for this one, that effective blockades must be impossible. The New York Evening World hails the submersible freighter as a new sovereign of the seas and says she will revolutionize naval architecture as the Monitor did. The Boston Post says: The feat which has been accomplished is a marvel in its application of an in- vention of destruction to the uses of trade. The New York Globe of July 11 strikes the deepest note of all. The Globe sees Great Britain freed of the constant fear that her oversea lines of communication THE GRAVEST 3G6 DAYS might be cut. Because of the sub- mersible freighter, Greal Britain, the Globe says, will not be as dependenl as she has been on the command of the sea to carry on trade with her extended dominions. Nor will Germany need Pear starva- tion in the future. The (llobe calls its editorial "The Negation of Sea Power." It concludes: The general interest of the world would be advanced by the negation of sea power. It would lessen British ne- cessity and at the same time provide against the abuse of the power born of such necessity. The nations would tend to become more pacific because able to be sure of their economic safety. May the Germans go as far as they like, therefore, in building larger and larger undersea craft. In this they will be ad- vancing the welfare of mankind. Finally, we may all indulge to the full our natural sentiments of ad- miration and satisfaction over the I'eat of the Deutschland. The New- York Tinies tells us": One doesn't have to be a sympathizer with Germany's cause to see in the crossing of the Atlantic by the Deutsch- hiiul an achievement of no small magni- tude. We are relieved. Somehow we worried about the warmth o\' our feeling tor Captain Eoenig and his men. We breathe free again, now that that feeling has passed the na- tional hoard of censorship. — hih/ ii. put;. DEUTSCHLAND A MERCHANT VESSEL The Slate department has made the only possible decision on the status oi the suhsea liner Deutsch- land. It has ruled that the Deutsch- land is a merchant vessel entitled to all the privileges that are ex- tended to other merchant vessels in American [torts. The decision rendered in the case of the Deutschland will of necessity apply to all vessels of character sim- ilar to the Deutschland, despite the declaration by acting Secretary of State Polk that each future sub- marine freighter which enters the territorial waters of the United States will be classified separately and independently. If the Bremen, now reported to be on its way to an American port with another Ger- man cargo, meets the conditions Which have won for the Deutsch- land a rating as a mercantile ves- sel. tin 1 State department will have no choice but to classify the Bremen as an unarmed merchantman. Having established, by its negoti- ations with Germany, certain defi- nite principles of law necessitated by the development oi' the sub- marine as a weapon of offense and defense, the United States by its decision on the Deutschland is codi- fying the rules o( nations with re- gard to the use of a submarine as a freight carrier. Thus to the United States has fallen the task of recog- nizing and regulating the latest arm iA' the sea commerce and sea war- fare o\' the world. The initiative of the United States in the legal and international as- pects of the submarine boat seems to be a titling outcome of the pio- neer services of American brains and American enterprise in making the submarine itself a fact. The State department's decision must furnish interesting reading at London and Paris, where it was expected that legal or diplomatic means would be found to rob the Germans of the fruit of their inge- T1IK SUBMARINE 1SSUW 73 nuity 1916. and enterprise. — July 17, BRITISH FOOD CARRIERS The official reports of Lloyd's Register show interesting data re- garding the shipbuilding industry in Great Britain. On March 31, 1916, there were under actual con- struction in British yards L,4S3,335 gross tons of shipping. It looks like a large amount. But what helps Great Britain in her need for more ship room is not the tonnage building but the ton- nage launched and completed. In the first three months of this year 80,561 gross Ions of shipping were launched. The explanation of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce at Washington is: Tin- dates of launch and completion in British yards are uncertain so long iis the yards are employed fully on naval construction and turning out munitions for the allies. The total of 80,561 gross tons launched in three months does not replace the normal wastage from wreck, fire or old age; to-day that wastage is greatly increased by the perils of war. It is a strange and significant co- incidence that addition to the Brit- ish merchant, marine in the first three months of L916, that is, 80,000 tons, is precisely the amount of Brit- ish shipping that German submar- ines were destroying every week in this same period. The facts illustrate the value to Great Britain of our intervention in the submarine warfare on her behalf. The facts indicate how serious a thing it will be for England when the submarine campaign is resumed, with the increased numbers of un- derwater craft completed since April. Germany will probably not submit for an indefinite lime to the illegal attempt to starve her civilians with- out returning to her own illegal methods of attempting to starve the ' Aug. 4, 1916. civilians of England. THE GORE RESOLUTION AGAIN Our neighbor, the "Times, 1 ' never lets a week pass without, proclaiming the doom of some one who voted for the Gore resolution. The Progres- sive Senator Clapp, of Minnesota, was favored with one editorial each fortnight, because Of his vote on that measure, and when he was defeated at the Republican primaries a short time ago the "Times" saw in his de- feat a righteous judgment for his in- iquity. Now the "Times" is out in favor of two Socialists in Wisconsin and against two Republicans "who voted for the (one resolution." As a matter of simple fact, Sena- tor Clapp was defeated through lo- cal political conditions in Minne- sota. The two Wisconsin congress- men did not vote for the (iore reso- lution for it never appeared in the House, being a, Senate; measure. If they had so voted it would have made no difference. Nobody in the West and few in the East under- stand what the Gore resolution was, anyway. Among those who have not yet got it straight is the "Times." When the submarine issue was acute, Senator (iore introduced a resolution warning Americans not to t ravel on armed belligerent liners. The body of the resolution was pre- 74 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS ceded by a very flowery preamble. At the moment that the vote was to be taken and debate was shut off, Senator Gore amended his resolu- tion. Apparently seeing that it would not pass, he used it to play a trick on the Senate. He left undis- turbed the flowery preamble, but changed the body of the thing into a resolution that the sinking of an- other armed belligerent liner with an American on board would be a cause for war with Germany ! So Senators Clapp and La Fol- lette, and the other condemned ones who voted for this resolution, voted to support the administration up to the very limit of war. If their vote meant anything, surely the "Times" approves of them. — Aug. 29, 1916. SIX-INCH GUNS NOW It used to be three-inch guns. Such was the armament of allied merchantmen when Sercetary Lan- sing ruled that merchantment could carry guns without forfeiting their immunities as peaceful carriers. Germany protested against this ruling. She pointed out that even a three-inch gun gave a merchant- man the power to destroy a sub- marine. Mr. Lansing reaffirmed his own interpretation of international law. The armament carried by al- lied merchantmen was of so small a caliber that it was purely defen- sive, he explained. And now it is six-inch guns. The Cedrie, of the White Star Line, steamed out of New York har- bor yesterday with one of these larger guns mounted at her stern. Will it be twelve-inch guns next? —Sept. 15, 1916. BOATS THAT DIVE It thrills the imagination to read of the arrival in Baltimore of the Deutschland, the world's first com- mercial submarine. It is the same thrill which has been running through the world since the air was conquered by the genius of man. As in the air, so under the water, the stern pressure of military neces- sity has compelled a technical de- velopment whose commercial use will eventually transcend its mili- tary use. Two new elements have been opened for the trade and travel routes of man. It is early to speculate upon the effect of the commercial submarine upon the British attempt to starve Germany, and upon the legality of the so-called British blockade. One thing is certain: The Deutschland and her sister ships will relieve the acuteness of the dye shortage in this country, and will be able to take back to Germany certain hos- pital supplies, like rubber gloves, which are sorely needed in Ger- man hospitals, and which the Amer- ican Red Cross has not bee able to have passed through British cruisers. We see another example of the fallacy of that ancient fable that the Germans have no individuality and are helpless as pawns when more than arm's length away from the directing general staff. To Karl Mueller, Weddigen, the cap- tains of the romantic Lloyd com- merce raiders now interned at Nor- folk, as well as Hans Berg, pilot of the Appam. we must add the name of Capt. Koenig, of the Deutschland. Universal military service, order and discipline in individual and so- cial life, these are not subversive of THE SUBMARINE ISSUE 75 the highest development of indi- vidual initiative. They are rather the sure basis on which such indi- viduality can develop. As for the status of the Deutsch- land under international law, there is riot the slightest question. She is a pure merchant carrier which, in addition to other accomplishments, knows how to dive. A merchant vessel that dives remains a merchant vessel just as a man that dives re- mains a man. No one would seri- ously propose refusing to a man that dives — on the ground that he is a fish — the status and protection to which he is entitled by law. — July 10, 1916. The British Blockade COTTON Cotton, as king among agricul- tural crops, received renewed recog- nition at the convention of the American Bankers' Association which closed at Seattle, Wash., yes- terday afternoon. On the motion of the president of the Atlanta Cham- ber of Commerce, the following res- olution was adopted : Whereas, The cotton crop of 1014 w:is marketed at low prices with con- sequent loss and hardship to the plant- ers of the cotton-growing states and all those connected in any manner with the production and sale of cotton. Whereas, Following the advice of recognized financial and agricultural au- thorities, the planters greatly reduced the acreage planted in cotton this year in their endeavors to promote as far as it lay within their power the general welfare. Whereas, The recent declaration by belligerent powers that cotton is contra- band now threatens to seriously affect the marketing of this season's crop and work great hardships. Whereas, The President of the United States and the Federal Reserve Board have shown commendable zeal and gnat etliciency in forecasting and warding off similar impending calamities. Resolved, That this convention com- mends the President of the United States and the State department for the efforts which have been already made looking to a modification of the said contraband order, and that it is a hope of this con- vention that these efforts will be con- tinued until the threatened peril to this great industry is averted. This action hy the representatives of the entire hanking interest of the United States is exactly in line with the policy in regard to cotton which 77; e E renin;/ Mail has consistently advocated tor several months. Cotton is necessarily an interna- tional crop. Sixty-five per cent, of the world's output is produced in our southern states. The centers of consumption lie in the densely popu- lated industrial districts of the New England slates, England, France, Austria and Switzerland. Hence the importance of safe transporta- tion and unimpeded distribution to the markets of the world. Like the other pending interna- tional issues, the modification of the contraband order on cotton has a great significance for the future, as well as for the immediate present. If the contraband order for cotton is recognized now, a menace will hang over the agricultural industry of the South that will bring disorganiza- tion and heavy loss whenever a war breaks out. — Sept. 10, 1915. OUR DUTY TO OURSELVES— AND TO OTHERS President Wilson found a hearty response from the people the other day when he declared that ''peace can he rebuilt only upon the ancient and accepted principles of interna- tional law — only upon those things which remind nations of their duties to each other." Peace can he maintained only up- on that basis, and war should not he waged upon any other. Certainly the clearly defined rights of. non- belligerent nations should not be THE BRITISH BLOCKADE 77 menaced by the necessities or the de- sires of any nation at war. This gov- ernment has consistently maintained that policy so strongly urged upon us by all our earlier 1' residents. Wash- ington, Jefferson, Madison, Mon- roe and Adams are all on record un- qualifiedly against the national ser- vility that would tolerate interfer-' ence with the trade of a nation at peace, and in favor of an aggressive assertion of an untrammeled right to have commercial intercourse with every nation not engaged in war. Ever since England, through its Orders in Council, adopted the pol- icy of putting all cargoes from this country that pass her shores under "suspicion," this country has been waiting for President Wilson to as- sert the rights of American foreign trade as stoutly as he defended those of American lives at sea. Ship after ship has been taken to English ports, there to remain until a prize court could find time to listen to American appeals for release. Our government has cabled its protests when urged to do so by the owners of the stuffs and the cargoes; and with each new arrest of an American ship, we have been told at Wash- ington that a strong assertion of American rights was about to be made to the English government. Such a letter, it was said a month ago, awaited the return of Secretary of State Lansing from his vacation. We are now assured that it is on its way to England by messenger to be delivered to-day. No doubt when our protest is made it will be in line with the firm attitude of Mr. Wilson's predeces- sors in office, and with the extract we have quoted above from his re- cent address. Unfortunately delay, has created the impression that the vitality has been revised out of the document — that fineness of phrase may unconsciously have taken the place of vigor of expression. It is unfortunate, too, that our delay has permitted England to lay down a new sea law, drafted out of its own necessities, for the smaller nations of the Scandinavian group, when if we have a duty in this war it is to be the earliest among peaceful na- tions in defining and protecting the rights of all. That is one of the things which, as President Wilson has said, "remind nations of their duties to each other, and, deeper still, of their duties to mankind." Sweden, Norway and Denmark have been looking to the United States with hope that this great na- tion will insist upon recognition of the accepted principles of sea law, not only as to her own ocean com- merce, but that of smaller nations as well. Weak as they are, com- paratively, they have not failed promptly to enter their own vigor- ous protest. With the powerful hacking of the United States, their cause is greatly strengthened and should be brought to a successful decision. The ques- tion is, whether Great Britain in- tends to take action on the protests of neutrals, including the United States, during the war or put off the issue until after the conflict is over. Sir Edward Grey is quoted in re- cent cable dispatches to the effect that the controversy that has arisen out of the hold-up of American com- merce on the high seas should be re- ferred to The Hague for adjudica- tion, and that in any event such an expedient must be resorted to in preference to an open breach with the United States. There is a distinct implication in 78 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS Sir Edward Grey's attitude thai Great Britain has no intention to push the matter to a quick decision. Does that mean that the oppressive interference with Legitimate Ameri- can commerce will continue pending the necessarily deliberate proceed- ings of the tribunal at The Hague? If such is the meaning of Sir Ed- ward's utterance, then it amounts to a declaration of refusal to meet the grievances of the United States. In such a contingency President Wilson will face the necessity of tak- ing far vigorous action than any that has vet been contemplated. —Nor. 1, 1915. "BY LEAVE OF ENGLAND" Italy is shipping fruit and other articles to Germany and getting in return coal from Germany's coal mines. This is by leave o\' England, for Italy must have fuel or her ships could not sail the seas or her fac- tories continue business. Italy is one of the allies, but Italy is not at war with Germany. ' If Italy was unable to get coal, Italy would be in a desperate plight. That being the case the English, to aid their troubled friend, permit the Italians to send goods to Britain's enemy, and get the much needed coal in return. Why isn't England as generous to us? We have cotton — millions of bales of it — that has declined many dollars per bale in value because we cannot get it to foreign mills whose spindles are idle for want of it. We have wheat — millions upon millions of bushels of it — that has declined more than 20 cents a bushel within a month because we cannot get it to people in Europe who are hungry for it. And Germany has potash — tens of thousands of tons of potash — that we need to fertilize our farming acres, that we need to make certain medicines, and in a variety of things. The cotton man of the South and the wheat grower of the West, the manufacturer, the railroad man, the shipper, the whole country, in fact, would benefit if we could exchange goods with Germany as Italy does "by leave of England." — Nov. 1, 1!»15. JUST A BILL OF EXPENSE The cables collect the satisfaction of England's press and statesmen with the message from Secretary Lansing. There is just enough jar to the comments to keep them from appearing too unanimous in their attitude of benevolent dissent. They recognized that we have laboriously made up a record on which to base a bill of expense, but not to take se- rious issue with England's deter- mination to rule the seas according to her needs. She has got to starve Germany, hence she defies American sovereignty on the waters and vio- lates the very code of sea law which we bound Germany to recognize. It was not only with fine phrase but with real vigor that we brought Germany to recognize that this na- tion proposed to assert its rights un- der all conditions both as to life and property at sea; it is not surprising, therefore, that the marked difference between that note and the latest Lansing document should have led England to assume, as she evidently has, that she was really not being brought to book — that the offenses she is committing are regarded by THE BRITISH BLOCKADE 79 our government as offenses against out pocketbook more than against our honor. The former can be sat- isfied through The Hague tribunal or otherwise; the latter requires in- stant satisfaction or gets none at all. Hence England takes our "protest" none too seriously, and will in her own leisurely way, following our own deliberate course, tell us her side of the story a year or so hence. That is precisely Mexico's attitude in the matter of American claims for property wantonly destroyed by the rival bandits there. Our protests, such as they are, have been put aside for response when the belligerents feel disposed to give the question some thought. The only difference is that in Mexico the American prop- erty confiscated or destroyed has been on land; while England has taken American property on the seas. The protection of our government, however, ran to both, and was pre- sumed by our citizens to cover both. Neither Mexico nor England, how- ever, evidently regards our sov- ereignty as of much consequence when their necessities, arising out of war, demand the choking off of our sea trade or the looting of American enterprises. A sharp and uncompromising stand toward Germany aroused that country from apathy to our vital in- terests and brought us a complete diplomatic victory. The Lansing note to England, however, does not justify a hope of similar results. The suggestion has been made from Washington that the issue could be settled by arbitration, likely to drag out for months and possibly for years after the war. In the mean- time our throttled trade dies com- pletely. A cash indemnity for a few particular shiploads of stuff cannot possibly recompense us for the de- struction of a vast trade and a com- mercial export organization that are the result of years of growth, and which are ours by right. Even now, if it were possible £or us to carry on the commerce that the note so ably demonstrates to be ours by right, whole sections of the coun- try would be in a much better eco- nomic condition. Cotton, which is our largest export crop, would be bringing from fifteen cents to twenty cents a pound; lard and pork, in- stead of selling for less than the cost of production, would bring profit- able returns to the farmers of the middle West. Our wheat and cereal crop, with Russia out of the market, should average twenty-five cents a bushel higher. The aggregate values loss to our farmers mount to more than five hundred million dollars. We have secured an open route for the export of a million dollars' worth of munitions a day. The country expects that the export in- terests of other sections, that are at least as legitimate, will be enforced with equal vigor. — Nov. 10, 1915. AMERICA'S TRADE RIGHTS Speaking for the best-informed British public opinion, the Man- chester Guardian says that the issue raised by Mr. Lansing's note to Great Britain is somewhat clouded. If that issue, continues the Guard- ian, involves an insistence upon our right to trade with Germany, the British answer, regardless of inter- national law, must be a decisive NO. If, on the other hand, the United States merely seeks to carry on an unrestricted trade in non-contra- 80 THE (ih'AVEST 3GG DAYS band with neutrals, strictly for con- sumption by neutrals, the question would resolve itself into B minor matter of practice, and doubtless some arrangemenl could be made. Such n. presentation of the case by a esponsible English newspaper discloses Hie immensity of the di- vergence between the English con- ception of the situation, even after the presentation of our nolo, and the actual interests of American producers and importers. To the average man reading thai document the main point of emphasis appears to lie in our demand thai we be permitted to carry on trade free from molestation with neutral coun? tries surrounding Germany, in goods actually destined for consumption in those countries. The emphasis is misplaced. The briefest reflection will show that this point is so simple and self-evidenl thai it should not need to be made. The fact that (ireat Britain and Germany are at war has no bearing whatever upon our trade with Sweden or Holland. With Germany shut out of the mar- kets of the Scandinavian countries as a seller by the exigencies of war. we are entitled to our share of the enlarged demand in those countries, no matter how much our sales there under the new conditions may ex- ceed our exports to the same terri- tory last year or two years ago. That is a trade opportunity that belongs rightfully to the American business man more than to any other. For England to limit us to the quantities sold last year, while her own commerce is profiting by larger exports to those very na- tions, constitutes a most unwar- ranted use ol' naval power, to which we cannot submit. Sales for home consumption to Holland, Sweden or Denmark are minor matters compared with the main issue, which urgently needs to he brought out in its full force. Unless an actual and effective block- ade of all German ports is estab- lished, there is no warrant in in- ternational law for shutting off the exportation from Germany of any and all articles that we may need. Our farmers must have potash; our textile industries are hampered by the lack of dyest nil's; other indus- tries of the country require other products of (Jerman industry. Our importing houses, engaged in this trade, have built up vast organiza- tions representing years of effort and the expenditure of large capi- tal. This business could he closed down legally by no other means than an effective blockade, and even then the way through Holland would remain open to us of right. The main questions in the con- traversy — its heart and its essence from the point of view of legiti- mate American interests — range as follows r 1. Not whether, but HOW SOON" are vvc to he allowed to trade di- rectly with the central empires in non-contraband goods? For fifteen mouths Britain has held up this t rade. 3. Not whether, hut HOW SOON" will the embargo on our trade in non-contraband with the central powers he lifted in cas.es when such shipments are sent by way of adjoin- ing countries? For fifteen months this interference has been kept up by Britain. ' 3. Xof whether, but HOW SOON" shall we he permitted to trade with the merchants of neutral countries in goods that they may have pur- THE KIMTISH BLOCKADE si chased from ( ierinany 'i Vnv fifteen months has Britain withheld thai right from us. These rights arc ours, and we arc entitled to assert them with vigor. The fact thai we are selling much is no justification of any attempt to prevent us from selling more. Ex- ports of farm products, such as cot- ion, wheal, lard and oilier food- sl nil's, would have brought ns al least half a billion dollars more than our existing I radc if our rights had not been curtailed by the Brit- ish blockade policy. Even if our export, I radc with neu- t ral countries contiguous to Germany has increased, and the presumption obtains thai (he goods are re-ex- ported from there by rail or water to the central empires, there is no warrant, in internal ional law for in- terference with this trade, excepl only so far as ahsolute conlrahand is concerned. In such a case, and in such a case only, could the doc- trine of continuous voyage he jus- tifiably invoked. Never has inter- national law recognized I hat prin- ciple as applicable to conditional contraband, such as foodstuffs. Such a construction of the law of nations was definitely established by the United Slates in the civil war, when a cargo of British army cloth shipped to Mafanioras, in Mexico, and seized by the federal authori- ties, was released hy our courts on (he plea, advanced hy England, that since it, was conditional conl rahand, such a shipment, to a neutral country was legal, whatever might he its ultimate destination, II was then asserted \)\ Great Britain, and af- firmed hy the American courls, that, goods constituting conditional con- traband might be used by the civil population of a belligerent country. The doctrine of conliniious voyage, il was pleaded by England at that time, applied only to absolute con- traband. The same doctrine, in the present instance operating against England, is now emphatically re- jected \)\ that country. Shall our Slate department ac quiesce in this facile reversal of in- terpretation of international law? — November L3, L915. "BY LEAVE OF ENGLAND" I n many hundreds of textile mills in America I here is an aciile short- age of dyesl nil's. lie fore I he de velopment of aniline dyes I he mills depended in large measure on log- wood and vegetable colors for dyes. The logwood process is not so satis- factory or so good in rcsulls as the coal tar. W'il h I he war came a shut- ling off of aniline dyes from Ger- many, America has done its best l<» develop this industry in the United Stales, hul if lakes much time. With all our ingenuity, application and effort, ii will be years before we are able to fill our needs in this particu- lar field. Shut off hy England from obtain- ing dyes from Germany, we were forced to turn lo logwood. Jamaica is the chief source of supply. .Jamaica is a British possession. (ireal Britain has a mammoth tex- tile industry in .f'lie Lancashire dis- trict. The British spinners had lim- ited stocks of aniline <\\('^, and had to consider supplementing them With logwood, so they turned their attention to Jamaica. The Ameri- cans, in the urgency of their need, bid so freely that prices advanced rapidly. This was shocking. Kighf- 82 THE GRAVEST 3G6 DAYS \y and properly, the British dye people complained to the govern- ment. The British government acted promptly. It not only put an embargo on shipments of logwood from Jamaica to the United States, but it commandeered shipments about to be made to this country. Some persons in the United States had the temerity to complain of this and make harsh statements about the British seeking to cripple an American industry in order to aid a British one. There was talk even of acts of reprisal. Happily, there will be no need for any such action. A Washington dis- patch says the State department is advised that the British government will permit Jamaica to ship a cer- tain amount of logwood to the United States. How unjust it is of our textile people to utter any complaint when Great Britain gives evidence of such graciousness ! If our manufacturers show proper respect for British in- terests, they may get a fair propor- tion of what the British have of any more material they do not require for themselves. Of course, the Brit- ish must think of themselves first and safeguard their own require- ments. They permit us to buy logwood. We should be grateful. Think of what would happen if the British were inclined to be ar- bitrary! Our mills, which employ nearly 700,000 persons, might be limited to the manufacture of white goods. We are not so appreciative as we should be to the British for the con- sideration thev show to us. — Dec. 30, 1915. "BY LEAVE OF ENGLAND" The American cotton crop of this season is estimated by the govern- ment to be 11,161,000 bales, ex- clusive of 1 inters. From the previ- ous season there was a surplus of about 4,000,000 bales. Thus far this season the exports have been less than 2,500,000 bales, and the American mill takings approximate 3,000,000. That means that, in round figures, there are more than 9,000,000 bales in storehouses, on the farms, at the ports or in transit in this country. Ordinarily at this time of the year our exports are 5,000,000 bales. Therefore our exports are curtailed one-half. Norway wants cotton; so do Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Holland, Spain and Italy. Of course, Germany would rejoice if it could obtain cotton. The same is true of Austria. The only Euro- pean countries to which cotton is going in any volume are Great Brit- ain and France. Great Britain specifies the exact number of bales Norway may have each month. It permits Sweden to take a specified amount each month. It prescribes the quantity Denmark and Holland may import. Some persons may not appreciate the justice of Britain's rules as to how and where America may sell its cotton. Cotton is contraband, and as such is subject to seizure if shown to be destined to territory of the enemy. Holland and Denmark border on Germany, and therefore the British say they should not be trusted. Sweden and Norway are across a sea from Germany, and the British believe they should not be trusted with a bale of cotton beyond the THE BRITISH BLOCKADE 83 bare requirements of their mills. Therefore all cotton for these coun- tries is held subject to British regu- lation. It must go to Great Brit- ain first, be counted, certified, and then, if all is well, the shippers are permitted to send it on to its des- tination. The law of nations warrants no such action, but where international law operates to the disadvantage of Great Britain it must, of course, be ignored. Some criticism has been leveled at the British on the score that their war rules in regard to cotton and other commodities have been used not only to keep cotton and other goods out of Germany, but to fatten British trade. They have been accused of trading in cotton with the enemy while they have kept it from neutrals. The official report of the British Board of Trade would seem to sup- port this contention, for it shows that in September, 1915, Great Britain exported to Turkish terri- tory 1,741,100 yards of cotton goods as against 452,000 in September, 1914. Great Britain explains this by the statement that the goods were sold to sections of the Ottoman king- dom which are only nominally under Turkish rule, such as Bussarah, Ko- weit, etc. To the people of the southern states the disposal of the 9,000,000 bales of cotton now in the United States is a serious matter. If they cannot sell them to advantage, they will suffer loss. If much remains unsold, the heavy surplus will de- press the value of the next crop. These people must be forgiven if they show irritation over the man- ner in which they are permitted by the British to do business. "Busi- ness as Usual" is the slogan through- out England, but for many of the neutral nations of the earth it is "Business as Britain Permits." Freedom of the seas is a farce when one nation prescribes the rules of commerce for all nations in order to fit her own needs. To add to the aggravation of the South, the British now prescribe that all British vessels sailing from the United States with cotton must carry one-half cargo of grain. It does not matter if the American charterer has made his engagements for cotton. He may suffer financial loss and have to abrogate contracts, but that does not signify. He must obey, or the British government will not permit the ship to carry the freight. — December 31, 1915. "BY LEAVE OF ENGLAND" No American manufacturer or dealer can sell outside of the United States any article of which rubber forms a part without the permission of the British government. An American who gets an order from Spain for automobile tires is not permitted to ship direct. He must send the goods to Liverpool or London, where they pass under the scrutiny of British agents, and, if the British are satisfied the person to whom they are consigned is of the right sort, a license is issued for their re-exportation to Spain. No one in France, Italy, Eussia, Switzerland, in Africa or in Asia, may receive a shipment of rubber goods from America without the permission of Great Britain. Any attempt to violate the British order may result in a shutting off of raw rubber supplies to the American manufacturer. Without the raw SI THE (iRAYTCST 3GG DAYS rubber which Croat Britain controls the American manufacturer would be embarrassed seriously. The Goodrich, the Goodyear and all other tiro manufacturers con- form to the British regulation. Such foreign goods as they ship they send to Great Britain. They cannol af- ford to arouse the wrath of John Bull. So long as America ^\oc< as the British direcl it may continue to be treated almost as considerately as it' it were a British colony. Rubber is contraband of war. As such it is subject to seizure if shown to be destined to territory of an enemy, hut not otherwise. A New Yorker shipped a quantity of dress shields to a firm in Hol- land. 'The shipment was seized by the British. It took three months and a lot of correspondence and pro- test through our State department to gel the shipment released. Then the seizure was explained. Rubber enters into the manufacture of dress shields, and as such the British held them. Hot water bottles, arctics, nursing nibs, rubber erasers — any tiling and everything of American make into which a particle o( rubber enters and for which a dealer may find a market abroad — must he shipped to the British first and held subjeel to investigation before a license may he obtained for the delivery o( the goods to the consignee. Aside from munitions for the allies. Great Britain holds America to strict accountability in all mat- ters of exports. — January 5, 1916. "BY LEAVE OF ENGLAND" On her last voyage from New- York to Greece, the Greek steamer Thessaloniki had among other cargo a consignment of leather and tannin, shipped by a Philadelphia concern to S. W. Hoffmann & Co., of Sa- lonica. The steamship touched at Malta, where a British official inspected and approved the cargo. Then she proceeded and at Salonica tin 1 freight for Holl'tnann & Co. was discharged. Later the British seized the goods, had them replaced aboard the vessel and taken to Malta, where they re- main. Greece is a neutral country. Sa- lonica is a Grecian port, at present occupied by Prance and Great Brit- ain. The goods art' owned by an American. There is no suggestion that they were intended for war pur- poses or that they were seized as contraband. The only explanation is that the name of the consignee indicates Teutonic origin or na- tionality. S. \Y. Hoffmann & Co. have been in business in Salonica for more than a quarter of a century. Mr. Hoffmann was born in Austria, hut has lived in Greece since hoyhood. These facts an> brought out in a protest from the Tinted States to the British Foreign office, in which the pertinent question is asked if international law is to he made a mockery and neutral goods in a neutral bottom to a neutral coun- try are subject to seizure because the name id" the consignee may sult- gest the possibility o( Germanic sympathy, whether goods to Smith would he passed, hot the same goods to Schmidt in any part o\' the world would he seized. Upon the answer of Sir Edward Grey to this question we shall learn TIIU r.WITISIl BLOCKADE 85 how wo may conduct business "by leave of England." — January 15, 1916, BRITAIN'S LATEST PHASE OF WAR The desperate cation, Like the des- perate man, fights without rules. The cables have prepared us for the declaration by England of an abso- lute blockade of sea commerce be- tween this country and Holland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden through the North Sea, and with Greece or other neutral nations in the Mediterranean, England does not scruple to inter- rupt the sea commerce of neutral countries, even of the big United States, to defy every accepted prin- ciple of blockading law and to im- peril her relations with nations at peace, in the vain effort to accom- plish in that way that which she has failed to accomplish through her armies. Her purpose is to starve Germany into submission. For the past year she has been striving to do this, but without avail. She now asserts that American foodstuffs are reach- ing Germany through the ports of neutral countries, and so without rhyme or reason, but by the sheer power of her dominant navy, she proposes to limit rigidly the quan- tity and kind of foodstuffs which Holland, Sweden, Norway and Den- mark may take from us. Those countries can import only such sup- plies as England regards as neces- sary for their own consumption. No ship can pass to and from the United States and those countries except by permission of the British navy. A blockade of the coast of Or many — made effective by English fighting ships bottling up German ports — would be, of course, clearly wit bin the rights of England or any other attacking nation. English ships keep clear of the German coast, however. They will make no effort to blockade it even under tbe soon-to-be-announced order. Their plan is to close tbe English Channel to sea. commerce, and to stretch a line of British cruisers from the Orkney Islands across the North Sea, Thus the only routes from the Atlantic into the North Sea will be closed to shipping. Neutral Europe as well as fighting Europe will be at the mercy of England's ships and all their sea, commerce will be re- stricted to the bare necessities of each nation. It is not surprising that the King of Sweden violently protests against this invasion of bis country's rights as a neutral; it is not surprising that. Holland's voice is raised in angry denunciation. The wonder is that France and Italy could have been won over to such a programme, even as a last desperate resource, for it is a plain defiance of laws that have been the protection of the sea commerce of those two na- tions in the past, and may be sorely needed by them in the future. The cable reports that France and Italy have given a reluctant and belated acquiescence can be interpreted only as a confession by those nations that they are in desperate straits and that the future must be sacrificed for present needs. But what of the United States? Our direct interest is not in the feeble and ignored protests of the smaller Scandinavian group, but in the attitude of our own government. 86 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS What is that to be? England is about to tell us formally that we cannot ship supplies and foodstuffs to any nation in Europe, at peace or at war, without her consent. Those last three words should be repeated : Without her consent ! This prohibition, it must be remem- bered, applies to American trade with neutral countries. What such an arbitrary assump- tion of power means for the time being to every nation involved is too plain to require discussion; what it means for all time, should Eng- land persuade us to acquiesce in it, ought not to be lost sight of. It means that the nation with the biggest navy and the greatest num- ber of naval bases will always con- trol the sea commerce of the world — a mere declaration by such a na- tion would tie up the shipping of all other nations to any extent it desires, just as England now pro- poses to do. A merchant marine would mean nothing to this country — even though not at war — if Eng- land's present purpose is to be an unchallenged precedent, unless we maintained a larger navy than Eng- land's and operated it on the English plan of making new sea law, through might, whenever our necessities de- manded that we ignore the old and establish the new. The precedent that England is determined to make by assuming control of the sea commerce of neu- tral nations means all this to the United States, for with sea law defi- nitely interpreted in that way this nation cannot assume to be prepared unless she is equal in sea power to that of her mightiest possible ene- my. That means not only that we must equal England's ships but stand on England's precedents, as made from time to time. — January 19, 1916. "BY LEAVE OF ENGLAND" Switzerland is a republic, and the United States is a republic, and both nations are neutral, but no one in the United States can transact any business with any concern in Switz- erland except through one establish- ment, the Societe Economique Sur- veillance, which is British in every- thing but name. It does not matter whether the shipment is shoe laces or locomotives, it will be barred from Switzerland unless consigned to the Societe Economique. No one would be so unjust as to suspect that the British, after the war, may use to their own advan- tage the trade secrets they now are obtaining. No one, of course, doubts that our consul-general at London, Eobert P. Skinner, was dreadfully mistaken in charging that the Brit- ish, in some instances, are using the blockade as a pretense to shut Am- erican goods out of various neutral countries while promoting British trade with the same countries. We know they wouldn't do any such thing. It is true, of course, that if it were any other people than the British, America might run a chance of having its foreign trade stolen from it, but, to paraphrase Marc Antony — The British are honorable men, All honorable men. Meanwhile we are and should be grateful in the extreme for such business as we are able to do with Switzerland, "Try leave of England/' —Jan, 21, 1916. THE BEIT1SH BLOCKADE 87 BRITAIN'S PRESENT BLOCK- ADE HITS AMERICA HARD By E. J. Clapp Professor of Economics, New York University Great Britain is about to announce a "blockade" of Germany. Most of the country has been under the im- pression that a blockade has existed for a long time and that England has been exercising every force in her power in order to prevent goods from moving into Germany or out of Germany, either direct or through the adjacent neutral countries on the seaboard, like Holland and Den- mark. Certainly the American cotton planters and exporters, who are forced to hold a million bales of cot- ton which Germany stands ready to buy at 25c. per pound, are under the impression that cotton cannot be shipped to Germany. Certainly the American users of dyestuffs have been led to believe that they cannot get German dyes. Certainly the packers, who nor- mally export to Germany vast quan- tities of lard, are nearly convinced the German market is closed to them. An incident that helped in this conviction was the British con- fiscation, without payment, of $15,- 000,000 of lard which we sent to Scandinavian countries early in the war — confiscated because there was a suspicion that it might get through to Germany. All these American business men are right. We have long been pre- vented from sending our goods to Germany or getting goods from her. The blockade will merely be another name for an interference with our trade long practiced and character- ized by our government as illegal and indefensible. This inference began when the war opened. International law on the sea is de- signed to protect the rights of neu- trals. This law decreed that a domi- nant sea power — say, England — could stop only certain trade moving from neutrals into the enemy coun- try. The goods that could be stopped were named "contraband" and "conditional contraband." Contraband goods were those which were obviously for warlike use, such as arms and ammunition. England was allowed to confiscate these goods if moving to German territory. Conditional contraband were goods that were capable of either warlike or peaceful use, like wheat and lard. They might be used to feed an army or a civilian popula- tion. Wheat, lard and other food- stuffs could be captured if Britain found on the ship evidence that they were destined for the armed forces of the enemy. Otherwise such ship- ments were immune. Goods not on the absolute contra- band list or the conditional contra- band list could not lawfully be inter- fered with under any conditions. Such goods were cotton, rubber, wool. These provisions of international law were not framed to protect one belligerent, like Germany, from an- other with dominant sea power, like England. If Germany and England chose to go to war, it was their own affair how much they injured each other. International law aimed to prevent them from injuring every one else. The law is not interested in a famine in the German textile indus- 88 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS tries and the resulting unemploy- ment. It is interested in the right of the American cotton planter to find his accustomed market abroad in Germany. If the farmer is cut off from this market, domestic prices are depressed because this forbidden export quota weighs on the home market. The farmer sees his year's work ruined. That is why international law for- bade Britain to interfere with our exports to Germany of cotton, and of wheat and lard if destined to the civilian population. The law was designed to protect our peaceful trade relations from dislocation through wars which foreign countries might choose to wage with each other. What was England's first viola- tion of this law? She added the conditional contra- band list to the absolute contraband list, in her orders in council of Aug- ust 20, 1914. That order declared conditional contraband seizable if going to an agent of the enemy state or to a merchant or other person under control of the authorities of the enemy state. No consignee in Germany could fail to come under one of those categories. That is, wheat, lard, flour and other condi- tional contraband could not be sent to Germany at all. That is why our foodstuffs ex- ports to Germany ceased the mo- ment the wars began. The next move by England was to extend her contraband lists far beyond the limits that international law allowed, so that every article that could be of any possible use to Germany was included in the lists. The illegal element in this action is not the intention to "starve" Ger- many. It was the destruction of a large market upon which the prin- cipal products of ■ neutrals — now made contraband — were dependent: A large market for Chile's nitrate, for Brazil's rubber, for Argentina's oilseed and for our cotton, food- stuffs, oil, copper, naval stores, agri- cultural implements and general manufactures. But Great Britain's lawlessness in the first months of the war did not stop with destroying our trade to Germany, England crippled our trade to all neutrals adjacent to Ger- many, such as Holland and Den- mark. International law clearly defines the limits of British interference with this trade. England could law- fully stop our exports to Holland only if these exports were contra- band goods, demonstrably in transit to the enemy, as proven by evidence found on the ship. Articles on the conditional contraband or free lists, moving from us to European neu- trals, were not to be touched. Here again the purpose of the law was not to allow a country like Ger- many to provision itself through ad- jacent neutrals on the seaboard. The purpose of the law was to pTotect those neutrals from having all their supplies held up by a British prize court while the judge decided whether he thought that the sup- plies might perhaps be going through to Germany. Therefore Britain was allowed to examine ships from here to the neutrals only long enough to determine whether they carried ab- solute contraband billed to Germany. England changed all this. By her order in council of August 20 and October 29. 1914, she assumed the right to stop not only absolute con- traband but also conditional contra- band if she suspected that it was THE BRITISH BLOCKADE 89 destined not to the neutral country but through the neutral country. As nothing of importance — except cotton — was missing from the Brit- ish contraabnd lists, this all meant that all neutral commerce was hence- forth subject to British suspicion and interference. Most extraordinary of all, if Eng- land had a suspicion, the owner of the foodstuffs exported from here to Holland was compelled to prove that these were not going through to Germany. By October 29, 1914, this system was in full swing. A complete blockade of our exports to Germany was in force, with the single excep- tion of cotton, which, as we shall see later, was prevented from mov- ing by another method. By October 29, 1914, the system of interference with our trade to neutrals was inaugurated which has been the subject of our diplomatic protests, and which promises now to unite neutrals in a solid, determined group against international lawless- ness. The pending blockade is merely a new name for what is as old as the war. But the name "blockade" will put the grave issue between Britain and the peaceful world into a form that all can understand. It will be easy to demonstrate that no blockade has been maintained and none can be maintained by the British fleet. In' a succeeding article we shall see why it is that Great Britain can maintain no lawful blockade. We shall see the steps by which the 1914 orders in council, through the force of events, grew into the 1916 block- ade. So far two points have been estab- lished : 1. The blockade is nothing new. It is only a continuation of the law- lessness at sea that began in August, 1914. 2. International law is not in- tended to protect belligerents but neutrals. No one objects to the British blockade because it is starv- ing Germany. We do not know whether it is or not. We object to it because it is unlawfully destroy- ing or crippling a part of our peace- ful commerce. We say to-day what Thomas Jef- ferson said of a similar British blockade in 1793, when he wrote to Pinckney, our minister to England: "Reason and usage have estab- lished that when two nations go to war those who choose to live in peace retain their natural right to pursue their agriculture, manufactures and other ordinary vocations, to carry the produce of their industry for ex- change to all' nations, belligerent or neutral, as usual, to go and come freely without injury or molesta- tion." — Jan. 20, 1916. THE REAL MEANING OF BRITISH ORDERS IN COUN- CIL By E. J. Clapp Professor of Economics, New York University. Author of "Economic Aspects of the War" Tbe first article of this series was called "The Beginnings of Interna- tional Lawlessness." There we saw that the blockade which Great Brit- ain is, according to reports from London, about to declare against our exports, is merely a new name for an interference with our trade which England instituted when the war be- gan. 90 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS We have no interest in the efforts of the Germans to evade the pressure of British sea. power; Our interest is to see that no dominant sea power shall illegally close our markets. By October 29, 1914, the date of the second order in council, our ex- ports to the central powers, barring cotton, were embargoed and our ex- ports to neutral Europe were sub- jected to the discretion of the Brit- ish navy and the British prize courts. Only cotton was free to move. Yet this freedom was a theoretical one. Up to October 29, 1914, practically no cotton had been shipped from here to Germany and her allies, in spite of the fact that cotton was not on the British absolute or conditional contraband list. It was supposed to be a free article of commerce. But England had spread rumors that cotton was to be tabooed, so ship owners would not carry it nor insur- ance companies insure it. Thus matters went from August 1st to October 24th. On that date the president of the New York Chamber of Commerce wired Mr. Bryan, ask- ing that Britain be induced formally to declare cotton on the free list, so that exporters would dare to ship it. At the same time Senator Hoke Smith, of Georgia, called on the British ambassador at Washington and in effect told him that if the desired declaration were not forth- coming, the southern senators would use their power in Congress. The South then held the whip-hand in the Senate, not yet having split on the ship purchase bill, and the Brit- ish ambassador yielded. He had Sir Edward Grey send a note to Mr. Lansing, who did Mr. Bryan's letter writing, saving that cotton was not and would not be declared contra- band. Movement of Cotton Following upon this note, cotton began to move to the central powers. We were soon exporting from 300,- 000 to 400.000 bales per month, partly direct to the Teutonic powers, but largely through the neutral countries of Europe, for direct ship- ment to Germany was endangered by the British mining of the North Sea. So the situation stood at the be- ginning of 1915. The Germans, partly because their imports of foods from over sea had been cut off, felt the pinch. On February 4 was an- nounced the German submarine "blockade" of the British isles as a measure of retaliation against the British starvation policy. British lawlessness on the sea came first. By adding the condi- tional to the absolute contraband list Great Britain had prevented food from getting to Germany at the very outset of the war. On December 26, 1914, we had protested against this British action. Our note quoted Lord Salisbury's famous declaration that even if food- stuffs were destined for hostile ter- ritory they could not lawfully be seized on the sea unless demon- strably moving to the enemy forces. Still less, our note contended, could our exports to neutrals be seized. Thus the present issue between us and England had been raised when the Germans launched their sub- marine campaign. Anger at law- lessness coupled with destruction of life was naturally stronger than anger at lawlessness coupled with confiscation of property. We turned from the British controversy until the German was settled. Now we TILE BRITISH BLOCKADE 91 turn to end the policy of confiscat- ing our property. On February 4 the German sub- marine policy was announced. All through the month of February, 1915, there were evidences that Great Britain was going to do some- thing new. In Parliament it was indicated tti.it as a measure of retali- ation all shipments to and from Ger- many would be embargoed. The United States viewed this prospect with alarm. To be sure, most of our exports to the central powers were already embargoed and our exports to neutrals hampered through misuse of the contraband list. But cotton had been moving freely and the relief to cotton prices had been great. The new British measures promised to shut off cot- ton exports and so destroy one of the markets for the coming (1915) crop. Moreover, the new measures were to stop all our importations from Ger- many. The virtual blockade declared by Great Britain in March, 1915, was largely the result of a violent agita- tion in England against allowing cotton, an ingredient of smokeless powder, to go forward to Germany. The blockade brought about by the order in council of March 11th stopped our cotton without putting Great Britain in the position of de- claring that raw cotton was contra- band of war. In 1904 England had prevented Russia from so declaring cotton contraband and stopping it on its way to Japan. As a matter of fact, we shall see later that since early in the war the Germans have used no cotton for powder; they have a substitute. Moreover, the British figured that a blockade measure, by stopping our imports from Germany, would pre- vent, Germany from establishing credit here with which to pay for imports from US. This also was to be prevented by the new British ac- tion. Our government was doubly con- cerned in the situation that had arisen by the middle of February, 1915. We were concerned because of the German submarine campaign which, though it had not yet killed American citizens, had every pros- pect of doing so. We were con- cerned because of the illegal British embargo on all trade with Germany. Each belligerent was claiming that its action was a retaliation against the lawlessness of the other. Asked to End Lawlessness So we did the natural thing. We asked each of them to give up his lawlessness and so remove all excuse for retaliation and further lawless- ness on the part of the other. Our State Department, asked Germany to give up her torpedoing of merchant vessels, and asked England in return to give up her withholding of food- st nil's from Germany. Germany accepted our proposal. England refused. If England had joined Germany in accepting our mediation, our suggestion that both return to the limits of law, there would have been no Lusitania and Arabic disasters, and the British blockade would not now be up for settlement. England's answer was in her order in council of March 11th. This re- markable document was virtually the announcement of a blockade. It said that England would seize all goods going to Germany or coming from Germany, either by direct sail- ing or through an adjacent neutral country on the seaboard. THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS Why did not England call this a blockade? The word blockade has never boon used in the British com- munications regarding this action. If England had declared and main- tained a blockade o( all German ports, shutting out the trade of all nations from those ports, wo could not have protested. But England could not blockade the German Baltic ports and she knew it. She knew that her block- ading warships .could not live in the Baltic for fear of German sub- marines, and that therefore t rathe from Norway anil Sweden could move unhindered in and out of Ger- man Baltic ports like Lubeck and Stettin. A "blockade" that could not pre- vent Sweden from trading with Stet- tin hnt prevented the United States from so doing, would violate the fundamental principle of a blockade; that is. that it must hear equally on all neutrals. Therefore the well un- derstood term "blockade" was not used. The public opinion of the neutral world, outside of Scandi- navia, would at once have revolted against an embargo on their exports when no similar embargo was en- forced or could he enforced against the exports oi Scandinavia. But "orders in council" are not generally understood. Their last extensive use was during the Napole- onic wars, and nobody remembers back so far. The world has just re- learned that these orders are merely a method of substituting English law for international law. We have just got it through our heads that the order in council of March 11. 1915, was simply and solely a do* ment assuming the right of blockade without assuming its responsibilities. Note of March 30 Our government at once called at- tention to these facts, in its note to Great Britain dated March 30, In it we asserted, in no uncertain terms, the right to trade with Germany in all hut absolute contraband of war. "Moreover, we asserted this to be our duty. For the United States to forego this right "would be incon- sisieni with the solemn obligations of the government, and would be assuming an attitude of unneutral- ity" toward Germany, Xot until duly did Britain answer our March 30 note, anil defend her March order in council, which had established the virtual blockade. In addition, sev- eral memoranda have been handed by the British Foreign office either to our State Department or to the American press. Our government has rejected every British argument and stands firm for the rights of neutrals. Every British contention can be analysed into either a plea of neces- sity, an argument of retaliation or a statement that in the civil war we established the precedent which Eng- land is now following, namely, the precedent of forbidding anything to reach the Confederacy by sea. either directly or indirectly. But during the civil war we were .maintaining a lawful blockade of our enemy and lireat Britain cannot now pretend to be doing that. In the next article. "The Illegal- ity of the British Blockade and the \ ssity for Its Removal," we shall see why it is that our civil war eases have absolutely no application to the present or prospective situation. But the populace of Great Britain is convinced that the Foreign Offi by its juggling of terms and its or- THE HKITISU BLOCK A1>K 93 ders in council, is hindering the navy in applying some sort of pressure to Germany thai is not now being ap- plied. The British common people want a blockade, a name which they can understand. So with the com- mon people in the United States. We also want the British action called a blockade. We want the il- legality of this embargo on a large part of our foreign trade made plain. —,7an. 87, 1916. ILLEGALITY OF BRITAIN'S BLOCKADE By E. J. Clapp Professor of Economics, Now York University. Author of "Kconomle Aspects of the War" Where is this international law aboul which we talk so glibly? Is it in a hook accepted by all nations. interpreted by an international court and enforced hy an international poliee court ? This question touches the weak- ness of our whole structure of inter- national law. It is in no book ac- cepted by all nations. In disputed cases it is interpreted by no inter- national court It has no police power to enforce it. International law is found in the precedents of nations, these precedents appearing in decisions of their prize courts, in their diplomatic settlements in war time, in treaties and conventions signed in time of peace. But in some cases the precedents of different nations conflict. There- fore, nations with large over-sea trade felt uncertain of their future in war time, uncertain of the prece- dents under which a dominant sea power might choose to act. The prize courts of the dominant sea power in passing- upon its interfer- ence with trade can, if they go back far enough in the sea power's his- tory, find a precedent for actual pir- acy. Thereiore, there was general desire to codify these precedents into a body of the law understood and accepted by all. Hence all nations welcomed the invitation of the British govern- ment — the present British govern- ment was then in power — to attend the London conference in 1909. The outcome of the London confer- ence was the declaration of London, signed by the representatives of all leading powers. The declaration of London is a compilation of the principles already stated: Lived contraband, condi- tional contraband and free lists, im- munity of conditional contraband en route to the civil population of a belligerent, immunity of commerce between neutrals unless consisting of contraband in transit for a helliger- ent. No nation got all it wanted, in the declaration of London, which contained many compromises. Hut in the main the declaration was a good summary of the freedom which neutral commerce had won foi itself in the course of the age-. Ratification Stopped To become legally binding the dec- laration of London had to he ratified by all the home governments. The process of ratification was stopped by the action of England. The House of Commons accepted the declaration. The House of Lords threw it out because of an agitation raised in England against that coun- try binding itself to definite rules limiting the exercise of its sea power in war time. Thus the declaration of London is not legally binding. But it rep- 94 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS resented the only codification of in- ternational law over attempted. Our American government has felt that it, the crystallization of the civilized opinion of the world, was morally binding on belligerents. Therefore, in August, L91 !. we suggested to all the combatants they adopt this dec- laration of London as their code of na\al warfare during the war. Germany and Austria accepted our suggestion, Russia and France waited until England answered, and then joined England in "accepting" the declaration "with modifications." These "modifications" contained in the British August order in coun- cil made a farce of the whole declar- ation, so far as protecting our com- merce was concerned. First, the "modifications" remov- ed the protection which the fixed contraband list of the declaration promised to neutrals. The British orders in council were accompanied by successive "revised" contraband lists which, as explained, soon in- cluded all commerce in their scope. Second, the "modifications" re- moved the immemorial immunity of conditional contraband, like food- stuffs, when destined to a civilian population. Conditional contraband moving to any one in Germany was declared seizable. Third, the British "modifications" removed the historic immunity of trade betwen neutrals in all but ab- solute contraband in transit to Ger- many. All our exports to neutrals, even goods on the old free list, were thrown open to British surveillance and, if the British chose to have suspicion, subject to detention and confiscation unless the American shipper could prove to British satis- faction that the neutral consignee would not Tesell into Germany. Britain could lawfully exercise this surveillance only in the case of abso- lute contraband, and the law was that Britain should bring proof of tainted destination. No Protection for Neutrals That is, these British "modifica- tions" removed every vestige of pro- tection which the declaration gave to neutral commerce. For England to call this action an "acceptance" of the declaration of London is a re- flection upon the intelligence of the outside world. But apologists for England say the declaration of London is not binding, because never ratified by the home governments of the repre- sentatives who signed it in 1909. Moreover, our State Department, after two months of experience of the burdens of the declaration, as "modified" by England, withdrew our suggestion of August that bel- ligerents should consider the declara- tion as a code of naval warfare. We said we should in the future stand upon our rights as designed in in- ternational law. Therefore, both by the English apologists and by the action of our own State Department, we are referred to international law for our rights. Where are those rights defined? They are defined in precedents. It is perhaps most instructive to use the precedent which England has cre- ated. No other nation, when a neu- tral, has been so zealous as England in halting belligerents when dis- posed to use their sea power unlaw- fully. First, let us examine a precedent which England has helped to estab- lish with regard to the attempt of a sea power, during war time, arbitra- rily to swell its contraband list. THE BKIT1SH BLOCKADE 95 In the Russo-Japanese war. the Russian government attempted to put raw cotton upon the absolute contraband list. On instruction from Lord Lansdowne, the English foreign secretary, the British am- bassador at St. Petersburg protested against this procedure. His letter to the Russian minister of foreign affairs resulting in forcing Russia to take cotton from the absolute contraband list, read: "British India is by far the larg- est exporter of raw cotton into Japan. The quantity of raw cotton that might be used for explosives would be infinitesimal in compari- son with the bulk of the cotton ex- ported from India to Japan for peaceful purposes, and to treat harmless cargoes of this latter de- scription as unconditionally contra- band would be to subject a branch of innocent commerce to a most un- warrantable interference." Opposed by Britain (Yet in August, 1915, although no change had occurred in the rela- tive uses of cotton for neutral and warlike purposes, England declared our exports of cotton to be absolute contraband of war.) Second, let us consider a case where Great Britain, as a neutral, successfully defended the immunity of conditional contraband, like food- stuffs, when destined to the civilian population of a belligerent. In 1885 France was at war with China. China was a heavy importer of rice from British India. France declared rice contraband of war, with the purpose of starving China into submission. The declaration met with immediate, sharp and success- ful opposition from Great Britain. Lord Granville, British minister of foreign affairs, wrote the French government that regarding food- stuffs "there must be circumstances relative to any particular cargo, or its destination, to displace the pre- sumption that articles of this kind are intended for the ordinary use of life." With regard to interference in commerce betwen two neutral coun- tries, consisting of non-warlike goods, Britain as a neutral has never had occasion to defend herself. No belligerent, even when maintaining a blockade, has ever tried to inter- fere with neutral commerce, except to stop absolute contraband goods in transit through a neutral to the blockaded country. Finally, it is worth while noting that a sea power cannot, under any code or precedent of international law, interfere with our imports from Germany, unless a blockade is being maintained. There is no defense of the British measures, if she is supposed to be treating our trade under the laws of contraband of war. The only circumstance that would give her these powers on the sea is a condition of blockade. If England is maintaining a blockade of Ger- many, she has a right to stop every- thing moving into Germany and out of it. An effective blockade removes all the rights of neutrals. We shall next examine whether England is maintaining a blockade of Germanv or can maintain one. — Jan. 31, 1916. CIRCUMSTANCES ALTER CASES In all of Britain's notes to the United States in justification of 96 THE GRAYEST 366 DAYS British measures restraining and de- stroying American trade, the point has been tenaciously held that our increased experts to the Nether- lands and the Scandinavian coun- tries conclusively shewed thai Amer- ica was indirectly exporting to Germany. These same data, showing the growth of American exports to European neutrals, are being cited by Lord Charles Berosford and oilier leaders of the Northclifffc camp in British politics, in urging a gen- eral blockade against Germany. Sir Edward Grey, however, does not want such a blockade. So he ex- plains that America's larger exports to European neutrals are the result of the fact that those neutrals are cut off from their usual source of supply in Russia. By so doing he directly contradicts his own argu- ment in justification id' the original measures in restraint of American trade, and admits that the growth of our exports to neutrals is no evidence that anything that we send abroad is getting through to Germany. With this admission Sir Edward eliminates ahout one-half of the ma- terial in the British correspondence with America Tip to date. — Jan. 31, 1916. SEA LAW NEED OF THE FUTURE By E. J. Claim-. Professor of Economics, New York University: Author of " Economic Aspects of the War." The theory of the ownership of the seas is dear. They are the prop- erty of no one nation, hut o\' all na- tions. American flour en route from Minneapolis to Germany is on American territory until it lands at Hamburg, for we own the seas jointly with England, France, Tur- key, and every other nation. Flour for the use of German civilians can no more lawfully be seized on the ocean than it can law- fully he removed from an American freight car at Buffalo by British sol- diers who come across the border from Canada. Cotton for Rotter- dam or Bremen can no more law- fully he taken off a ship in the Eng- lish channel than British navy forces can lawfully remove it from a wharf shed in Savannah. All of this is clear unless a block- ade or virtual blockade of Germany exists. But the British say that the equivalent of a blockade does exist. and that our Civil War precedents, which prevented the Confederacy from using round-about means of breaking our blockade, are the very same now being applied to Germany. What are those Civil War cases? Then 1 are two groups: the Ber- muda and Matamoras cases. No one claims that the Matanioras cases supply England with any argument. It is the Bermuda cases which are cited. While we were blockading South- ern ports, England was reaching the Confederacy by shipping supplies to Nassau, Bermuda, At Nassau the supplies were trans-shipped into small vessels, which stood a better chance id' slipping through -the Fed- eral blockading cordon. Our war- ships stopped British vessels en route to Nassau and took from them sup- plies that were of demonstrable Con- federate destination: swords, uni- forms, etc. Continuous Trip Theory The nominally neutral voyage from England to Nassau was con- THE BRITISH BLOCKADE 97 sidered part of a continuous trip which the goods were openly mak- ing. There would be a parallel in this war if the German North Sea and Baltic ports were blockaded so that no goods could reach them. Then, if we shipped goods to Sweden, goods of demonstrable German des- tination, Britain might confiscate them and cite our Bermuda cases. But England has not blockaded German ports in the Baltic, and can- not do so. Sweden can ship undis- turbed to these Baltic ports. And then, is there any reason, founded on justice and law, why we should not ship all but absolute contraband to these same ports through Swe- den? Our doctrine of "continuous voyage," designed to prevent a breach of blockade, is nonsense when applied to conditions where there is no blockade. The British practice is nothing better than an indefinite extension of the law of contraband to all our exports. Practically everything we export is on the British absolute or conditional contraband lists, and goods on either of these lists are seized. Also, all exports from Ger- many to us are seized; for which there is no precedent in contraband law. To some this may not seem so se- rious a matter. Many of us want the allies to win the war, and think that acquiescence in the British sea measures is a small contribution for us to make to their success. We cannot do it. Our individual sympathies in the conflict cannot blind us to the meaning of the precedents thus established. This is not the last war. If international law — the immunity of peaceful neu- tral trade — goes overboard in this war, we shall in vain invoke its pro- tection in the next war. If Parts Were Reversed Suppose that the next time Eng- land and Germany fight, Germany is the dominant sea power. In twenty years it is not unthinkable. Or, if you prefer, suppose Japan at war with England and supreme on the seas. Our sympathies would hardly be with Japan. Yet, after submitting to England in this war, we could not resist Japan's action in putting on the contraband lists all our exports to England and her colonies and seizing those exports wherever found on the seas. Japan would apportion the quotas that we might export to France so that France could not be able to spare anything for England. In the meantime Japan might not be able to dominate the English Channel or the North Sea, because of British submarines. Russia or the rest of northern Europe would ship undisturbed their grain, flour and provisions to England, while a panic would reign in our grain, cot- ton and stock markets. The situa- tion is in no way different practice from the one now being maintained against us. Our rights in the seas are not words; they are something very real. What our government is fighting for is to prevent any nation that chooses to go to war from appropriating for itself the seas, which are the joint property of us all. We are not will- ing to issue a blanket charter to any belligerent to stop any of our trade when he sees fit. 98 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS That is the great issue with Eng- land to-day. If we are truly neutral — and our President says we are — we have more than the right to trade with Germany in all but absolute contra- band of war. We have even the duty to trade with her if we trade with her enemy. America on Record In our note of protest to England of March 30, 1915— the protest whose insistence has been so long delayed because of the Lusitania is- sue, which arose a week later — in that note we said that for us to forego our right to trade with Ger- many "would be inconsistent with the obligations of our government, and would be assuming an attitude of unneutrality" toward Germany. Nor is this attitude new Ameri- can doctrine. In 1793 Great Brit- ain, without maintaining a block- ade, was unlawfully stopping our exports of foodstuffs to France. Thomas Jefferson, on September 7 of that year, wrote Pinckney, our minister to England, to make the following representations . to the British government: "It is an essential character of neutrality to furnish no aids not stipulated by treaties to one party which we are not equally ready to furnish to the other. If we per- mit goods to be sent to Great Brit- ain and her friends, we are equally bound to permit it to France. To restrain it would be a partiality which might lead to war with France, and between restraining it ourselves and permitting her ene- mies to restrain it unrightfully, there is no difference." — Feb. 1, 1916. HOW TO BREAK THE BRIT- ISH BLOCKADE By E. J. Clapp, Professor of Economics, New York University; Author of " Economic Aspects of the War." If the present British blockade — masquerading under the name of or- ders in council — is illegal and inde- fensible, a violation of our rights, our interests and our neutrality, what are we going to do about it? It is not merely a question of get- ting England to rescind her March, 1915, order in council, which an- nounced that everything going to or from Germany would be seized. The repeal of this order would merely open up imports to us from Germany. It would not aid us in exporting. The reason is already known. Every important item of our exports is on the British absolute or condi- tional contraband list, and so for- bidden to move to Germany directly or via the European neutrals. After removing the blanket contraband list which is represented by the pres- ent blockade measures, we should find an individual blockade weigh- ing upon everything we might at- tempt to export. The removal of the blockade would be a minor part of the task for us. That task is to restore the rights of peaceful neutral trade to its status before the war. That restoration must involve : 1. Confining British interference to interference with a list of abso- lute and conditional contraband in harmony with the definitions of this list in the past. 2. Confining the interference with absolute contraband to stopping it if sailing to enemy territory and stop- THE BRITISH BLOCKADE 99 ping it if destined to a neutral port, providing it is demonstrably in Transit to the enemy. 3. Conditional contraband to Ger- many to be immune if going for civilian use. 4. Forbidding all interference with our commerce to neutrals ex- cept to search for absolute contra- band in transit to the central pow- ers. To Restrict Contraband In a simple and fair way we may accomplish this restriction of the contraband list to its historical status. In a simple and fair way we may accomplish the restriction of England to that treatment of ab- solute and conditional contraband which she as a neutral has imposed upon belligerents. It will never disentangle us if we enter into a diplomatic discussion with Great Britain on the merits of keeping 'ithis or that article on one or the other of the contraband list. At the customary speed of diplomatic correspondence, these questions, if settled at all, might be settled at the rate of one a month. Each ar- ticle of trade would be a separate question, and there are hundreds of articles. • The simple and fair way is to hold England to a code of interna- tional law framed by the best brains of all nations, in the calm times of peace. This code is the declaration of London, signed by the represen- tatives of all nations at the London conference, though not ratified by all home governments and so not legally binding. The declaration is morally binding. The belligerents are morally bound to recognize in war a code embodying the best practices of law. It is fair to hold them to something definite, some- thing internationally fair and clear. The declaration of London, with its fixed contraband and free list, contains the guarantees of im- munity which our trade deserves and which we, in behalf of the neu- tral world, must assert if force is not to supplant law on the seas, the joint property of us all. Our task is to enforce that observance of the declaration of London which, at the outset of the war, we merely re- quested. Can we enforce this? We can, and by the most terrible of all pow- ers, the threat of starvation. Head the dispatches from London and the debates in Parliament and see how well the British statesmen realize that England could not live a month without our food, nor fight much longer than a month without our continuous supplies of ammunition. As a means of pressure, we could de- clare a general embargo on exports to England until she accepted the declaration of London as her code of naval warfare. Embargo on Arms To this measure there is serious objection. A general embargo of exports to England would throw our exchanges into a panic. We can ac- complish the results by an arms embargo. Its pressure would be heavy and England would know that the more sweeping measure would always be at our hand. Our business in manufacturing war ma- terials, if seriously threatened, could be at least partly compensated by orders from the United States, now in the process of arming itself. It would never come to the point of levying these embargoes. If Congress merely authorizes the 100 THE GKAVEST 366 DAYS President to take such action, Great Britain, which cannot fight without supplies, will accept the same com- pulsion which she, as a neutral in the past, was wont to exercise upon a belligerent who proceeded unlaw- fully. Nor would such action on our part be a breach of our neutrality. A provision of a Hague convention reads : "The rules impartially adopted by the neutral powers shall not be altered in principle during the course of the war by one of the neu- trals, except in the case where ex- perience shows the necessity for such action in order to safeguard the na- tion's rights." If we are ever to learn by experi- ence, we have learned that some ac- tion is necessary to safeguard our nation's rights. When we have the facts before us we understand the grave concern to- day at Washington. We understand why the Democratic Senator Cham- berlain, chairman of the Senate committee on military affairs, de- clared in a speech in New York on January 8 : "Now let us bring Great Britain to book, just as we have Germany and Austria. She has destroyed the commerce of the United States, so far as neutral trade is concerned. Having swept our commerce from the seas, Great Britain now pro- poses to commandeer our vessels be- tween the United States and South America." Mann's Fear of England We understand why Mann, the Bepublican leader of the House of Representatives, tells his colleagues on the floor of Congress: "I have much more fear in the end of a war with England than I have of a war with Germany." Now we understand why Gore, by many called an administration Sena- tor, introduces in the Senate a meas- ure instructing the President to as- certain whether any belligerent, signatory to the declaration of Lon- don, is interfering with the neutral commerce of the United States in anything designated as noncontra- band in that declaration. (All belligerents are signatory to the declaration through their rep- resentatives at the London confer- ence, but the declaration was not ratified by the home governments. Our neutral trade, under the decla- ration of London, means also our trade to neutrals in transit to Ger- many, in all excepting absolute con- traband of war.) When the President so designates an offending belligerent, the Gore measure continues, penal statutes shall automatically come into effect forbidding our citizens to sell or ex- port contraband of war to the of- fender and forbidding national hanks to act as loan agents for it and its allies. In simple English, this is the very procedure about which we have been talking all along; namely, the assertion — through a partial em- bargo, if necessary — of the rights of the peaceful world as defined in the declaration of London, mainly Brit- ish made.— Feb. 8, 1916. THE A, B, C OF BRITAIN'S BLOCKADE OFFENDING By E. J. Clapp, Professor of Economics, New York University; Author of " Economic Aspects of the War." Q. If Great Britain has for months been stopping everything THE BEITISH BLOCKADE 101 going into Germany and out of it, what sense is there in the talk that England is perhaps "about to de- clare" a blockade? A. There is no sense in such talk. We have suffered all the evil effects of a hlockade disguised as a March "order in council." Q. But the dispatches from Lon- don tell us that we can have no ob- jection to a lawful blockade. Isn't the blockade of Germany, like be- sieging a city, rather stringent but still lawful? A. Yes, a neutral has no recourse from trade losses through a block- ade lawfully maintained. Q. But isn't the British blockade a lawful one? A. It is not. England does not blockade the German Baltic ports, nor have any warships in the Baltic. Q. What practical difference does that make? She has enough ships to effectually stop our trade as it goes past the British Isles? A. Yes, but if England cannot stop a Swedish cargo of lumber go- ing to Stettin on the German Bal- tic, she has no right to stop a cargo of lumber from Mobile. A block- ade must bear equally on all neu- trals. Q. But why cannot England blockade the German Baltic ports? A. Because the Kiel Canal en- ables the Germans to throw their whole fleet into the Baltic and an- nihilate any force which England could afford to send there. Q. Why cannot England use sub- marines to stop the Swedish-Ger- man trade? A. The route from Stettin to Gothenberg is so short and so easily patrolled by destroyers that subma- rines could not more blockade it than they could blockade the port of Liverpool. Rights Defined by Law Q. If England is not entitled by a lawful blockade to stop all our trade to and from Germany, how much of it is she entitled to stop ? A. Her rights are defined by in- ternational law. She is entitled to stop no trade from Germany to us. She is entitled to stop our exports of contraband of war, and our ex- ports of conditional contraband if moving to Germany and demon- strably destined for military forces. Q. What right has England to in- terfere with our exports to neutrals ? A. She has only the right to ex- amine these exports to look for evi- dence of absolute contraband des- tined for Germany. Q. What is absolute contraband ? A. Goods of obviously warlike na- ture, use and destination, like arms and ammunition. Q. What is conditional contra- band? A. Goods that may be used either by the army or the civilian popula- tion, like flour or provisions. Q. How about goods not on the absolute and conditional contraband lists? A. These comprise the "free list," and may on no account be interfered with. Q. What is on this free list? A. Cotton, wool, iron ore, rubber, oil and most of the staples of the world trade. Q. How did England come to vio- late these rights of ours if they are guaranteed by international law? A. Her first violation was the or- der in council of August, 1914. Q. What did England do in that order in council? 10* THE GRAVEST 3G6 DAYS A. She proclaimed her intention of seizins not only absolute contra- band but also conditional contra- band moving to Germany, even if destined for civilian use. All on Contraband List (.,). l soo the maltreatment of con- ditional contraband, but surely we could still ship the goods on the tree list ? A. We con Ul not. They were one by one put upon the contraband lists. Q. Well, that blocks OUT exports. Hut what about our imports from Germany? How did they come to be stopped? A. 1>\ another order in council of March, 1915. Q, What were the provisions of that order in council? A. It declared every thing moving to Germany or out o( it soi/.able. Q. But that is making exports from an enemy country contraband, though no blockade is maintained. Is there any precedent tor this in law ': A. None whatever. Q, How did England come to in- terfere with our exports to Euro- pean neutrals? A. Following her August and Oc- tober orders in council she seized anything she chose o( our exports to neutrals, and then put it up to American shippers to prove that these goods could not possibly get through to Germany, Q. Has anything like this ever been done in the history of the world ? A. Nothing. Q, Well, do you think that if we break the British blockade of Ger- many we can stop the present in- terference with our commerce to European neutrals like Holland and Sweden ? A. It is the only way to stop that interference. Q. Why? A. Because so long as England is allowed to think she can stop every- thing going to Germany, she will stop everything going to countries adjacent to Germany. Grey's Admission Q. Bui have not British notes to us quoted our own export statistics to show how our shipments to neu- trals have increased over those of preceding years? A. You mean our shipments to- ward neutrals. Sir Edward Grey has just explained in Parliament that those figures show merely how much trade leaves America for Eu- ropean neutrals, not how much ar- rives. Q, Where is this international law you talk of? A. In various precedents in which the rights of neutral trade were as- serted ami maintained. Q. Where arc these precedents found ? A. in diplomatic exchanges in war time, treaties o( peace. Hague conventions and such sources. Q, Have neutrals in past wars prevented belligerents from destroy- ing peaceful trade and have they thus created precedents which we may use in this war? A. Ye-. Defining the limits be- yohd which belligerents might not use their sea power was one of the chief functions o( England as a neu- tral. Q. Bui "precedents" like these seem an insecure guarantee for the trade o< neutrals in war time. A. You are quite right. That is THE BRITISH BLOCKADE 103 why the London conference was called. Q. What was the London confer- ence, and what was it called for? A. The British government called it to codify the conflicting preced- ents and make a clear law of the sea. Q. Any results from that confer- ence? A. Yes, the Declaration of Lon- don, an equitable codification of the immunity which neutral trade had won at the hands of belligerents. Q. Was the Declaration of Lon- don ever signed ? A. Yes, signed by the representa- tives of all governments at the con- ference, but never ratified by the home governments after England threw it down. Q. Why did England do that? A. It passed the Commons, but the Lords threw it down because it put statutory limitations upon Eng- land's use of her sea power. "Continuous Voyage" Q. But they tell me we cannot protest against England because of our own "continuous voyage" cases in the Civil War, when we were do- ing just what England is doing now. Do these cases apply? A. Not in the slightest. Q. What were these continuous voyage cases, anyway ? A. We captured Confederate goods on a British ship bound for Nassau, where they were destined to be trans-shipped to blockade run- ners. We captured them for pur- posing breach of blockade. Q. Then why cannot England capture cotton shipped to Sweden, destined for trans-shipment to Ger- many? A. Because, as I have told you, there is no blockade of Germany be- ing maintained, and none can be maintained. Q. Has the Declaration of Lon- don lived contraband lists, and does it provide for letting our trade with neutrals alone? A. It does. Q. Then why, at the outbreak of the war, didn't we insist that the belligerents observe the Declaration of London, so that neutrals would know where they stood? A. In August, 1914, we did ask the belligerents to observe the Dec- laration of London Q. What were the replies? A. Germany and Austria agreed, England and her allies refused. They "accepted" the Declaration of London, but with "modifications" that removed all the protection which it afforded to neutrals. Q. Are not we creating a bad precedent by letting England make all our trade contraband in this war? A. We are. Mortgaging the Future Q. Can we in the future assert any rights of trade in war times if we forfeit them now? A. Not very easily. Besides, there is a principle involved. Q. What is that? A. Under the same conditions in 1793, when England and France were at war, Thomas Jefferson said that we violated our neutrality if we continued to trade with England while allowing England unlawfully to restrain our trade with France. Q. Any other objection to the blockade? A. Oh, yes; it costs us heavily. British measures forced our cotton producers to accept 6 or 7 cents per 104 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS pound in 1!U I. Gotten is only 10 cents now. Q. Bui 10 cents looks like a good price io mo. A. Not for a short crop. Our hist crop o\' this size sold for 1 1 1 -j cents per pound. Q. How do you know that Ger- many would take any eoitou if the blockade were removed? A. She has otl'ered to pay over 86 cents per pound for a single lot of 1.000.000 hales. G>. Hut even if the blockade were removed, eould we properly ask England io take cotton ott her ab- solute contraband list ? A. We could. She promised us, early in the war, not to make cotton contraband. Moreover, in 1904, she as a neutral forced Russia to take cotton oil' the contraband list. Q. Why did liussia put cotton on the contraband list ? A. She did it to prevent "British- Indian cotton from moving to Japan. Q, Rid is not cotton used in Ger- many to make smokeless powder, and is not it therefore properly classed as contraband? A. Since early in the war Ger- many has used no cotton for this purpose. Q, How do you know? A. An American was commis- sioned to visit powder factories in Germany ami reported upon their methods. lie reported that they were using wood cellulose instead of cotton. Q. Where can 1 find this report? A. It is printed in the Congres- sional Record, Government Losing Q, Our government must be los- ing something in the form of cus- toms duties which it normally col- lects on German imports. A. Yes. about $30,000,000 a year in federal revenues is cut off. Q, Well, is there any way we can force England to accept the Decla- ration o\' London and return to the limits o( the law? A. Certainly we could threaten her with starvation, with a general embargo. Q. Would not that throw our business structure into a panic? A. Possibly. Therefore, an em- bargo on one set of indispensable ar- ticles like war munitions is prefer- able. (}. Bui do you think England would wait until we actually de- clared siuh an embargo? A. Hardly. She would accept the Declaration of London in time. Q, Put does not international law prevent us from changing our laws of neutrality during a war, and would not such an embargo be an unneutral act? A. It would normally be an un- neutral act and is forbidden except '"in the case where experience shows the necessity for such action in or- der io safeguard a nation's rights." Q. Has any move been made to bring this sort of pressure to bear upon England? A. Yes. the measure introduced by Senator Gore. Q. What does this measure pro- vide: A. That we forbid our citizens to sell or export contraband, and for- bid our national banks to give financial aid to a belligerent who interferes with our neutral trade contrary to the provisions of the Declaration of London. TIM-; IWMTISH BLOCKADE 105 Q. According to the Declaration of London, may our exports to neu- trals, onr neutral trade, consist of goods in I ransif to ( ierman y ? A. Yes, everything, excepting ab- solute contraband of war on the con) raband list of (.lie Declaration of London. Feb. 10, Dili. NOW, AND THEN A new chapter, nearly the I asf , has been written in the story of cot- ton as contraband. In the Russo-Japanese war, Lng- land, then a neul nil, defeated Ifus- sia's attempt, to |)iit cotton on the list of absolute contraband. Russia was trying to stop the movement of British India cotton into .Japan, on the ground that it would there be used in the powder factories. The argument which Lnglatid used, and enforced, was that the civilian use of cotton so outweighed the warlike use that it could not possibly be classed as contraband of war. Con- traband means "of obviously war- like; nature, use and destination/' In October, 1914, England prom- ised our solicitous State depart- ment : It (cotton) is, therefore, so far as Great Britain is concerned, in the free list, and will remain there. In the face of all this, in August, 1915, England declared our cotton to Germany to be absolute contra- band of war, because it was an in- gredient of explosives. But since early in the war Germany has used no cotton in making explosives. She has a substitute — wood cellu- lose. To demonstrate this, an Ameri- can went to Germany and visited German factories where explosives are made. His technical examina- tion of the processes in the fac- tories proved that no cotton is used in them. His report has been re- printed in the ( Congressional Rec- ord. Therefore, further restrictions of our lawful exports will not have; the slightest effect upon the outcome of the war. Now the British ambassador at Washington rises to meet the awk- ward situation. Whatever may be the facts, he says, regarding the military use of cotton by the Ger- mans, it is in any case capable of such use, and hence properly on the absolute contraband list. The promise to us of October, 1914, is another scrap of paper. Also, when a belligerent, do not do unto others as you have forced them to do unto you. — Feb. 11, L916. "BY LEAVE OF ENGLAND" Shares of stock and bonds of American railroads and American industrial corporations sold through Amsterdam bankers to American in- vestors and shipped on the Dutch steamships Noordam, and llollerdam from Holland to New York to be de- livered to the purchasers were seized in the mail carried by the vessels and are held by the British govern- ment. The British suspect, these shares and bonds were owned by Germans and Austrians and so arrogate to themselves the right to capture and, possibly, confiscate them. It does not matter that American banks, trust companies, brokers, bond dealers and others bought these securities in the regular course of business through the Stock Ex- 106 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS change and are embarrassed by fail- ure to get them. The British hold that the stock or the bond must be shown to have none of the taint of the hated German or it is subject to seizure. Bills of exchange, too, in payment of many millions of dollars' worth of goods shipped by America to neu- tral nations of Europe, have been taken from the mails by the British and never heard of again. There are few banks in Xew York doing an international business that have not suffered through these acts. They are not the ones most con- cerned. The losses and the woes of merchants and shippers are many. The Barbary pirates acted on the theory that they owned the Medi- terranean. They held up ships, searched them for plunder and ex- acted tribute. The British act on the theory that they control all the seas. They search neutral ships, pur- loin treasure intrusted to the mails, rifle the pockets and the baggage of passengers, and, when they see fit, take prisoners. "We went to war with the Barbary states rather than submit to their criminal code. "Millions for de- fense ; not one cent for tribute," was the rallying cry in those days. To- day our bankers and brokers and merchants in the foreign trade are protesting to Washington against this new form of piracy in the Brit- ish channel. They are led by pow- erful interests, such as the Guaranty Trust Company, the Equitable Trust Company, etc. If their protests are unavailing we might as well acknowledge that if we travel, or ship or send commu- nication across the seas, it is "by leave of England."— Feb. 19, 1916. TIBETAN HOSPITALITY Washington. Feb. 21. — Secretary Lansing to-day asked the London Foreign Office for prompt replies to the American notes protesting against appli- cation of the trading with the enemy act against American firms and inter- ests. — NetM Dispatch. Strange are the ways of the peo- ples of this earth. W r e realize how arbitrary are all standards when we find that what is sacred to us is dis- gusting to other men, and what to them is good manners or good mor- als is abhorrent to us. In his "Folkways" Prof. Sumner tells of a traveler in Tibet who re- ported that his native host "ex- pressed his respect for us and his appreciation of our remarks by ris- ing to his feet and extending his tongue at full length." The custom is recalled to the mind by the manner in which Great Britain has answered our notes of protest against her violation of every right of neutral commerce and correspondence, and against her proceeding in the face of all prece- dents which she as a powerful neu- tral enforced. Perhaps, like the host, Great Britain thinks that this is the most exquisitely polite way in which to express "her respect for us and her appreciation of our remarks." Only England does not rise to her feet to do it. She lazily rolls over on one side and gives us the un- speakable courtesv of a Tibetan reply.— Feb. 22, 1916. THE COUNTRY OF WASHINGTON This morning we have news that casts down every spirit which hoped that America would fulfill her mis- THE BRITISH BLOCKADE 107 sion as guardian of neutral rights in this war. Sweden, after fruitless endeavors to induce us to co-operate with her in upholding these rights, has at last howed to British terrorism at sea. Sweden has formed a Swedish Food Commission to he under British con- trol. The Swedish-American line will accept no consignment for Sweden unless addressed to this British commission or to the Swed- ish government. England makes the Swedish government personally re- sponsible that nothing consigned to it will be allowed to move to Ger- many. Sweden says we have refused to aid her in the perfectly lawful act of forwarding to the German civil population all but contraband of war. Sweden says that in our note to Britain we insisted on the right to ship such goods to Germany via adjacent neutrals, but we will not aid any adjacent neutral in practic- ing the rights which we so firmly maintain. On the contrary, says Sweden, we acquiesce, in a system of British sur- veillance over the imports of Sweden which not only throttles our transit trade to Germany hut also half our direct trade to Sweden. Our direct trade to Sweden is at the absolute control of a resident British commis- sion. This commission receives ap- plications from Swedish firms that have always imported from America and decides whether or not their names have a German sound, and hence are susceptible to a German connection. We cannot lightly brush aside Sweden's accusation. We cannot lightly view the evidence of our ac- quiescence in British sovereignty on Swedish soil, on the very birthday of the American who removed the last vestige of British sovereignty from our own soil. — Feb. 22, 1916. A CORRECTION Sir Edward Grey in Parliament the other day made a speech for which America is profoundly grate- ful. The opponents of the present British measures, a blockade of Ger- many and neutrals alike, which our government characterizes as illegal and indefensible — the opponents were citing our American figures of exports to neutrals as evidence of a trade so large that some of it must be leaking through to Germany. Sir Edward Grey appeased them: The figures given for exports deal only with goods which left the United States and give no information regarding their arrival. Henceforth we shall be thankful to the British foreign secretary if he will omit from his correspondence with us mention of the size of our export to European neutrals as evi- dence of so vast a prosperity in the United States that British action at sea cannot possibly be interfering with us.— Feb. 24, 1916. "BY LEAVE OF ENGLAND" The London "Economist" in its issue of February 12, 1916, page 256, says : Germany, it appears, has not severed all communication with us, and her ex- ports to Great Britain last year amounted to £200,827. How many people in England know that we are still importing goods from Germany? On the same page the "Econom- ist" prints detailed figures from the 108 THE GRAVEST 866 DAYS Board of Trade showing the value of the imports and exports of all British merchandise Eor L915, com* pared with 1914 and L913. It la- ments that the United States and Argentina benefited most by selling stutV to Great Britain despite every thing tlu v British did to favor Aus tralia, India. Canada and British de- pendencies generally. Unfortunately, the "Economist" is unable or unwilling to inform us as to the character of the goods im- ported by England from Germany in L915. Imports of $1,000,000 i\o not amount to mueh, it is true, but how tremendously Buch an amounl o( q Borely needed German product, pot- ash or dye stud, or both, would be appreciated by ns I The British may gel them for tiieir own uses, but we ran get thorn onl\ lo leave o( England. Mtir. .">, 1916. "BY LEAVE OF ENGLAND" In obedience to an order o( the British government the Cunard line will accept no freight from Now York until further notice except munitions and grain for the British. The International Mercantile Ma rum. presumably in obedience to the same order, has canceled all space engaged by private shippers on the steamships Manhattan. Lancaster and Philadelphia, and announces there will he little public freight taken by the Celtic, Cymric and Adriatic. Te get a pound oi' freight across the oeean now hv a liner is difficult indeed. London decides what is to go ami w hat is to remain. The heads of two large publishing houses Meliraw and Serihnors — appealed to London a day or two ago to lei their magazines go through. Meli raw's appeal was rejected, but. the Serihner volumes will go across the sea "by leave o( England." — Mar. !', L916. "BY LEAVE OF ENGLAND" A case o( lad it's' silk hosiery shipped by Lord & Taylor on the Swedish steamship Hogland, and consigned to v. \\ . Hasselblad & Co., o\' Gothenburg, Sweden, has been seized by the British on sus- picion that the goods might be for- warded to i he Germans. Lord & Taylor will protest to the State Department against the seiz- ure, on (he ground that ladies' stock- ings are not contraband. If the British are at all gallant they will release the goods, forward them to Gothenburg and announce to the ladies of that town that they may wear them and, if they desire show a little o( them, "hv leave of England." March 10, 1916. "BY LEAVE OF ENGLAND" An enterprising American news- paper, having obtained from its staff photographers, sent to Europe for the purpose, Beveral thousand feet o( moving picture films o( scenes and actions in the present war. taken at the front, by permission o[' the Berlin government from within the German lines, has displayed them extensively throughout the United States. Several weeks ago an order Came to that newspaper from a firm in Shanghai, China, for a set of those films to he displayed in that and other Chinese eitios. In fulfill- ment o( this order, the films were TIIU HIMTISII KLOOKADL 1 10!) shipped via the American Express ( Jninpany to the linn in Shanghai. It now transpires that upon their ar- rival there the agent of the express company, whoso name betokens Ten tonic ancestry, although it is alleged that be is not a citizen of Germany, was not allowed to receive these films for delivery to the customer of the newspaper because the British agents of that port declared that to give liirn the Alms would he in viola- lion of the "trading with the enemy law." The American newspaper and the American Express Company have appealed to the British ambassador in Washington and to the British authorities in London through the proper diplomatic odicials COT the re lease of these films without success. These films, the product of Amer- ican enterprise, owned by an Amen can newspaper, shipped to China, a neutral country, cannot go to their destination because the "leave of England" ' s withheld. — March, 15, 1916. THE NEW ORDER IN COUNCIL A new British Order in Council has been promulgated, further re striding trade between America and the neutral nations of Lurope. All trade with Ocrmany is long since dead. Having passively ac- cepted previous British Orders in ( onncil, we may accept this one, but we owe it to ourselves to recog- nize the orders which we take from his majesty's government. An order in council is a substi- tute for international law. Eng- land as a belligerent is not satisfied with international law, the body of precedents protecting peaceful trade which England BJ a powerful neu- tral has done the most to create. Therefore, when these precedents embarrass her in war, she passes an order in council to supersede them. This order supplants previous inter national law as a rule of procedure both for British cruisers capturing neutral vessels and cargoes, ;ind for British prize courts in condeinning them. The British Orders in Council are all under the guise of accepting the law of nations. In early August, 1914, we asked both belligerent groups to adopt the Declaration of London as their code of naval war- fare. The Declaration of London was B eode of international law framed by the representatives of all mil ions at a conference in London, called by the British government. It- is a fair, clear statement of the rights of those who prefer to remain at peace at the hands of those who choose to go to war. Germany and Austria adopted the Declaration of London, as we sug- gested. England "accepted" if "with modifications," the modifica. lions being included in her Order in Council of August 30, 1914. When We came to read that order it reversed all protective features of the declaration, which it nominally adopted. The August Order in Council was superseded by that of October, 1914, still in force. By these orders conditional contra- hand ( foodstuffs) wore forhidden to move to (Jermany, along with ahso- lufe contraband (munitions). The distinction between the two classes was abolished. The British then issued successively expanded con- traband lists until every important article of our export was harmed, except cotton. 110 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS On March 11, 1915, a new Order in Council was issued, declaring that all goods to or from Germany would be seized. This killed our cotton exports and annihilated our imports Prom Germany. This abo- lition of trade with Germany is still culled by the British an Order in Council ; they do not dare to call their action a blockade, for they know they maintain none. Goods arc not allowed to move to Germany indirectly via neutral countries like Scandinavia or Hol- land. The October Order in Coun- cil authorized Sid Edward Grey to stop our hade with any neutral that may be forwarding goods into Germany. This forced those coun- tries to issue export embargoes on all goods imported from us. More- over, steamship lines from New York to European neutrals dare not carry any shipment not certified by the British consul-general here, who thereby becomes censor of all our trade with neutral Europe. But the British government is not satisfied with their own consul- general's approval of the manifest «of a Scandinavian vessel from New York nor his scaling of the ship's hatches, so that nothing can be put on board after she leaves. With export embargoes in force in Euro- pean neutral countries and with the neutral nature of Scandinavian and Dutch consignees certified by British agents in New York before goods can be taken aboard here — if, in spite of this, our exports are seized by England, it can only be for the purpose of destroying our trade. Ship after ship, so certified, has been hauled into Kirkwall and sent to British ports for discharge and detention. American owners of cargoes seized and sold a year ago still await the slightest indication of reparation from the British Prize Court. These cargoes may all meet the fate of the $15,000,000 of Amer- ican meat products, consigned to Scandinavian ports, seized by the British in October, 1!»14, and final- ly condemned without reparation in September, 1 !H.'». Indeed, this fate is the likely re- sult of the new March 30 Order in Council. Its provisions work back- ward, and so affect all goods seized before March 30. It says that: It is therefore ordered that the pro- visions of the Declaration of London shall not be deemed to limit or to have limited in any way the right of his ma- jesty, in accordance with the law of na- tions, to capture goods upon the ground that they are conditional contraband, nor to affect or to have affected the lia- bility of conditional contraband to cap- ture, whether the carriage of the goods to their destination be direct or entail trans-shipment or subsequent transport by land. It is of course a small thing that the capture of conditional contra- band moving to Germany via a neu- tral cannot be affected "in accord- ance with the law of nations." Another clause of the new order tells us: Enemy destination may be presumed lo exist if the goods are consigned to a person who, during the present hostili- ties, has forwarded contraband goods to territories belonging to or occupied by the enemy. That is, any Scandinavian or Dutch merchant who — even before his own country issued an embargo on the export of contraband goods — forwarded contraband to Germany, is now a forbidden consignee of American goods. Finally, whatever the British seize and hold, the proof of its innocency THE BRITISH BLOCKADE 111 is up to us, not to them. The old rule of law that the captor must prove the guilt of his capture on the high seas is reversed. The new Order in Council tells us: It shall lie upon the owners of the goods to prove that their destination was innocent. How long, O Lord, how long ! — April 6, 1916. BESIEGED A letter on the 'Times editorial page Sunday is one of the most interesting communications that have been sent to any New York paper in a long time. It is worth reading by all, in that it expresses the fairly frequent view of the hope- lessness of protecting ourselves against the whole interference with our trade which both belligerents are now practicing. There is a good deal of talk about sending milk to Germany for its starv- ing babies. And the criticism, in cer- tain quarters, is that if it were not al- lowed to go in, it would be the grossest kind of inhumanity. What about a be- sieged city? When the cry of starva- tion is sent beyond its limits, what is done? Does the attacking general au- thorize the sending in of supplies? Cer- tainly not. He thunders out : "If you are starving, then lay down your arms and surrender." This is the accepted mode of warfare the world over. What is the situation so far as it affects America? It is not for us to excite ourselves whether German or English citizens are starving. We enter the field when the belligerents apply the siege theory to illegal blockades or submarine operations which destroy our lawful commerce. We stand for international law not in order to protect starving belliger- ents, but neutrals trading with bel- ligerents. There is one very important rea- son why this country must insist upon our right to send food to the civilian population of Germany. If we do not enforce our protest against the present British annihila- tion of our trade with Germany, we shall see ourselves obliged to ac- cede to Germany's annihilation of our trade with England, an annihi- lation brought about by the use of the submarine. If we succeed in forcing the allies to disarm their merchantmen t, the submarine will put the passengers and crew into small boats before sinking the ves- sel. Otherwise not. Our government has called an armed merchant vessel an "auxili- ary cruiser," and so suitable for de- struction without warning. There- fore we cannot logically resist a submarine policy of destruction of all British craft in and out of Eng- land. So long as England adheres to her present stand, every vessel may be carrying a concealed gun on her stern and offer sudden annihilation in return for that submarine visit and search which we have tried to make a substitute for unwarned sinking. Suppose the submarine command- ers have these new orders. Then — When the cry of starvation is sent beyond its (England's) limits, what is done? Does the attacking general (the submarine commander) order the send- ing in of supplies? Certainly not. He thunders out : "If you are starving, then lay down your arms and surrender." This is the accepted mode of warfare the world over. We venture to predict that this same mode of warfare, then applied by Germany, would not be so ac- ceptable to even the Times cor- respondent. Yet it is the logical outcome of our passive acceptance 112 THE GKAVEST 366 DAYS of the British annihilation of trade with Germany through a "block- ade" which we declare illegal, in- defensible, and a measure whose fulfillment causes us to forfeit our rights and violate our neutrality. This was our message to England when we made our first protest against that blockade, on March 30, 1915. The submarine campaign of de- struction outlined would not differ in principle from the British meas- ures which with mild protests we let continue. There is a way for America honorably and effectively to solve this whole problem. It is to now enforce what we have twice sug- gested: a joint return by both bel- ligerents to the limits of law. Not only is this a way; it is the only way. Germany and England are both acting in defiance of the code of international law that existed before the outbreak of the present war. To America, as the chief neutral, has come the duty of impartially maintaining this code against both belligerents. It will be better for us, better for the belligerents them- selves in the long run, and better for the whole world if we can carry through this great duty. When our President speaks in the name of impartial justice his words will find sanction with neutrals and with the thinking, fair-minded individuals in the belligerent countries themselves. —April 7, 1916. SETTLING WITH US AFTER THE WAR There are some people living in America who want us to take no steps toward asserting our rights to trade upon the high seas because such assertion must be against Eng- land, and nothing must be done to hinder England in exercising her full sea power in this war, whether or not its exercise is unlawful. These same people, living in America, want us to take the sharp- est of measures toward asserting our rights to travel on the high seas — even on armed ships — be- cause such assertion is against Germany, and nothing must be left undone to hinder Germany from exercising the full force of her new sea power, the submarine. But these fellow-inhabitants do not state the case in this bald way. They say: The question between us and Germany is one of lives and must be settled now; the question between us and Britain is one of property and can be settled after the war. They point out to us the brilliant result of the Alabama claims case. During the civil war, British-built Confederate privateers sank a large percentage of our merchant ves- sels. A further large percentage was sold to British owners. Our oversea merchant marine disap- peared from the ocean, and never returned. During the war the Union was powerless to enforce its protest. But after the war we succeeded in having the matter submitted to a court of arbitration. We won a glorious victory. Britain was forced to pay $15,000,000 into our federal treasury. Will any one dare to tell us that this was a "fair" price for Britain to pay for the elimination of her rival in the carrying trade? Ask the Kansas farmer now paying 50 cents, instead of 5 cents, per bushel in ocean freight rates — ask THE BEITISH BLOCKADE 113 the farmer whether the Alabama claims victory was a glorious one. All these matters are not issues of to-day and to-morrow. By our actions to-day we are laying the foundations of our future. When our merchant marine was unlawfully driven from the seas we were rent with civil strife, powerless to help ourselves. When to-day our trade is being driven from the ocean or forced into channels that please England, we need not sit helplessly by. Where is the money to pay us if we stand aside and see neutral and German buyers of our peaceful products forced to seek new sources of sup- ply, or devise substitutes for our cotton, oil, phosphates, typewriters, (agricultural machinery? And all in the name of a lawless procedure which even his majesty's govern- ment does not dare to call a block- ade. We recall that once Britain went to war with China to force China to continue her importation of opium from India. From its opium export tax the Indian government was drawing most of its revenues. It is not seditious and un-American to ask to have applied to England the same severe pressure now being ap- plied to Germany, in order to force the continuation of our exports of cotton, lumber and foodstuffs to all civilian populations of Europe. After all, the rights of a free citizen and a free nation are more than the physical right to continue to draw breath. There is included the man's and the nation's right to pursue their lawful vocations and earn their livelihood. When Venice gave to Antonio half of the wealth of Shylock, and confiscated the other half for the State, the un- happy Jew said: Nay, take my life and all ; pardon not that: You take my house when you dp take the prop That doth sustain my house ; you take my life When you do take the means whereby I live. That is the view Washington also. Our government will stand on Thomas Jefferson's declaration of the independence of neutral na- tions : When two nations go to war, those who choose to live in peace retain their natural right to pursue their agriculture, manufactures and other ordinary voca- tions, to carry the produce of their in- dustry for exchange to all nations, bel- ligerent or neutral, as usual, to go and come freely without injury or molesta- tion. There is not one serious offender against our vital rights and inter- ests. There are two. We insist on the right to come and go freely, and we also insist on the rest of the Jeffersonian declaration. — April 8, 1916. THOMAS JEFFERSON'S BIRTHDAY To-day is the birthday of Thomas Jefferson, the founder and the patron saint of the reigning Demo- cratic party. In a hundred cities of the United States citizens will gather and celebrate the character and achievements of a great Amer- ican. Of all things Thomas Jeffer- son did, none is more worthy of our memory and thoughtful considera- tion than his vigorous, manly Amer- ican foreign policy. It was a policy wliich gave thia little country a Ill T11F OKA VEST ;UU> PAYS place and a name of honor among nations. As secretary o( state under Wash- ington, as Adams's vice-president, as twice President oi the United States, and as model and prompter for his follower. Madison. Thomas Jefferson dominated the foreign policy oi the United States from the formation of the government to the elose o( the war o( 1818, When that war was oxer United States citizens, our dag and our ships were respected in all lands and on all seas of the world. Jefferson was an American in the truest sense: he defended American rights against all who violated them. The same task confronts America to-day. During Jefferson's period England and France were almost continually at war. England and Germany are at war to-day. In Jef- ferson's time both belligerents used every means in their power to draw America into the conflict on their respective sides. It is not dif- ferent to-day. When they could not bring us into the wasr, they set about to destroy our commerce in the hope of crippling each other. So in the war of 191 fc-16. Jefferson, with all the power at his command, fought, and fought successfully, this attempt at the unlimited assertion of belligerents to elose the seas to the peaceful nations of the world. The impartiality with which Jefferson proceeded against wrong- doers was instanced in 1793, In the year F. C. Genet, an agent of the French government, was in this country trying to interest our eiti- ■ens in the cause of France. II is violation of our hospitality went to the extent of commissioning pri- vateers and attempting to raise mili- tary forces in this country. In June, 17JK>, Jefferson wrote him sharply: ti is the right of every nation to pro- hibit acts of sovereignty from being ex- ercised by Others within its limits, and the duty of a neutral nation to prohibit such as would Injure one of the war- ring powers. Genet continued his activities and his recall was demanded and obtained. In the same year. 17!h'\ England — then, as now. without maintain- ing a Legal blockade — undertook to capture all food products hound for France. The instructions of Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Pinek- ney. our minister to Great Britain, are illuminating to-day. Asserting that "no nation can agree, at the mere will or interest o( another, to have its peaceable industry sus- pended and its citizens reduced to idleness and want." Jefferson con- tinued : Wore wo to withhold from France supplies of provisions, wo should in like manner bo bound to withhold thorn from her enemies also, and thus shut to our- selves all the ports of Europe where corn is in demand, or make ourselves parties in the war. This is a dilemma which Great Britain has no right to force upon us. and for which no pretext can be found in any part of our conduct. She may. indeed, feel the desire of Starv- ing an enemy nation, but she can have no right of doing it at our loss nor of making us the instrument of it. At the end of Washington's ad- ministration in 1797 JetTerson be- came Adam's vice-president. The demands of the French directorate, to the effect that we should strain our neutrality in favor of France. became so outlandish that we de- clared war on France in 1798. After a few sea tights had heen fought. Napoleon came to power and withdrew the French demands. THE BRITISH BLOCKADE 115 But the great struggle forced upon Jefferson was one with Eng- land. The straggle was one to pre- sent Great Britain from confiscat- ing our ships and cargoes, taking passengers off our ships, impressing America]] seaman into the British navy. Prof. Johnston describes the fight that Jefferson carried on in words that most have a haunting ring to Democratic ears at Wash- ington to-day. All the difficulties which followed may be rammed up in a tew wordi : the Krit- ish government was then the representa- tive at the ancient system of restriction of commerce, and had a powerful n. to enforce its idea*; the American gov- ernment was endeavoring to force into international recognition the present t<-m of neutral rights and unrestricted commerce, bnt its suspicions democracy refused to give it a navy sufficient to command respect. The American gov- ernment apparently expected to gain its object without the exhibition of anything but moral force. Yet with the insufficient means at their command Jefferson and his followers carried their contest to a successful conclusion. In 1807, as a retaliation against illegal blockades of American commerce on the part of France and England, an emhargo on all trade with hoth of them was declared. France gave in, but non- intercourse with England was con- tinued until the friction between the two countries broke into open war in 1812. Tn the war of 1812 our little navy made itself respected. To be sure, in the peace of 1814 no mention was made of non-interference with American commerce, of the impress- ment of American seamen or the other evils against which Jeffer-on contended. But England under- stood, and the world understood, that the day for exercising sover- eignty over American rights wa3 past. It remained for the war of 1914, just a century later, to revive this ancient abolition of qui sover- eign right to use the free seas. Jefferson had weak weapons in his hands. To-day the administra- tion at Washington heads the most powerful, the most feared, nation in the world. To-day we can have what we ask for. To-day we have -'•cured from one offender, Ger- many, all the concessions we can fairly ask without securing some measure of return to law on the part of Great Britain, against whose illegal blockade the submarine cam- paign is admittedly a retaliation. We have no malice for England and none for Germany. We are to- day divinely commissioned to up- hold the law of nations against all who break it. Is England to follow Germany in a return to this law, or is England to be allowed to fulfill the harsh definition which Jefferson gave of her in a letter to Baron de Stael Holstein on May 24, 1813: England is in principle the enemy of all maritime nations. The object of England r~ the permanent dominion of the ocean and the monopoly of the trade of the world. —April 13, 1916. THE PACKERS' AND THE COUNTRY'S SHAME From London come glowing re- ports of the heartfelt satisfaction of the representatives of American packers before the British prize court. British cables report these men a3 enthusiastic about the money settlement thev have finallv received from England in part recompense for confiscated meat exports to 116 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS European neutral countries. But the packers in this country, who have American wires to use for communi- cation, express no such joy over the outcome. And when we come to an- alyze the situation, we find that Eng- land would not pay for the unlaw- fully seized cargoes until the pack- ers agreed not to try to trade with Germany during the rest of the war. The "settlement" was in considera- tion of a renouncement of the right of America to use the high seas of the world. The packers' trouble began early in the war. In October and early November five ships of an American steamship company set sail for Scan- dinavia, consigned "to order." This was the recognized method of export- ing and financing our exports of meat products; no objection had ever been raised against it. The ships had all sailed before people in America knew of the provisions of the British October 29 order in council, which, among its many other offenses against law, declared that our "to order' shipments to European neutrals Avere tainted with suspicion of German destina- tion. Upon this ground our ships, with $15,000,000 of meat products aboard, were seized and thrown into the British prize court. These ships and their cargoes, de- tained in November, 1914, could not get a hearing before the .British prize court before April 13, 1915. In the meantime the British had made various unacceptable propo- sals to settle the cases out of court, offering the packers part payment for the value of their cargoes. The packers naturally demanded full payment. The cases came before the British court on April 13, but were again postponed until June 7, then until July 16. There was every prospect that England was going to condemn the cargoes without payment; that is, confiscate them. The ground was to be the British order in coun- cil of October 29, which was in con- flict with international law. There- fore, on July 15, one day before the court met, our government sent a "caveat" note to England, intended for the information of the prize court. AYe informed England that we would recognize no action of its prize courts acting under British municipal enactments (orders in council) and not under the recog- nized principles of international law. England then proceeded to show just, how much she respected our pro- tect and how much she feared our threat not to recognize the action of her prize court. That prize court in September condemned without com- pensation the $15,000,000 meat ex- ports and condemned them under the very British "municipal enact- ments" against which we had issued warnings. With the aid of the State Depart- ment the Americans then set about to get some compensation from the British government for the cargoes thus illegally condemned. The packers, selling agents of the products of American farmers, were obliged to accept such settlement out of court as England would give. England agreed to pay for the car- goes if the packers would agree, dur- ing the course of the war, not to try to sell to Germany or her allies. The packers accepted and signed such an agreement. They had fought such terms of- fered them before, not because they THE BRITISH BLOCKADE 117 had been engaged in shipping to Germany, but because our govern- ment has taken the firmest stand against the illegality and indefensi- bility of British stoppage of any of our exports to Germany except con- traband of war. Food is not con- traband of war. The government is under a moral obligation to its citi- zens to abolish this illegal blockade. The packers wanted to have their hands free, when the promised abolition came, to resume trade with their German customers. Perhaps, too, they realized that for the meat packers of the United States to sign with the British gov- ernment an agreement not to sup- ply our accustomed German market would be a clear oombination in re- straint of trade ; and the Department of Justice has not been too lenient with the packers. Perhaps also they felt the essen- tial unneutrality which would be the lot of this country if those who con- trol one of its industries refused to trade with one belligerent, with whom we were at peace, and con- tinued to deal with another. Per- haps some lawyer had recalled to the packers a famous American dictum of Thomas Jefferson, the patron saint of the Democratic party. In 1793 England, without maintaining a legal blockade — and it is maintain- ing none now — tried to stop all our exports of grain to France, with which it was at war. Jefferson, then secretary of state, wrote: Were we to withhold from France supplies of provisions we should in like manner be bound to withhold them from her enemies also. It is not different to-day. The eternal laws of justice and right do not change. — April 18, 1916. SENATOR STONE Senator Stone, of Missouri, is chairman of the Senate committee on foreign relations, and knows more about the true nature of our foreign complications than any other man at Washington, apart from the President and the secretary of State themselves. Therefore when Sen- ator Stone speaks, the nation listens. On April 13, Jefferson's birthday, he spoke in the Senate a word that we needed to hear. He reminded the country that the most essential thing is to have a large navy, and that an adequate army is, though of large importance, secondary, from the viewpoint of immediate neces- sity. All may not agree with Senator Stone in seeing England, with her navy, rather than Germany, with her army, our more likely foe. We need not prepare, and we do not prepare, against any specific foe. But no matter who comes against us, we are impregnable if we maintain a navy that can hold the seas. The best land defense against Germany, Eng- land or Japan is a navy so strong that none of them can put an army ashore. All this is implied by Senator Stone : The people of the United States are less concerned about the military pro- gramme of European nations than about their naval programmes. We are sep- arated by thousands of miles by sea from Europe, and there are other con- siderations that minimize the possibility of danger to us from that source. But the seas that wash the shores of Europe also wash the shores of the United States. A European power sufficiently strong to be supreme on the seas is of greater possible danger to our welfare, whether in times of war or peace, than any mere military power, however formidable, thousands of miles away. 118 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS While I look upon the military su- premacy of any European power with the greatest aversion, we of America would have no particular reason to dread it : but a supreme dominance of the seas by a single power comes immediately home to us. We need an army too, and an army means, logically, compulsory service for all men. Above all else we need this military training to set the nation up, physically and mor- ally, and to enthuse the country with the highest of national purposes — namely, the readiness to lay down one's life for the country that gives us birth, protection, liberty, pros- perity. Once this unification is at- tained, the fulfillment of the nation- al aims of greater social justice will not be long waited for. — April 19, 1916. THE BRITISH NOTE To-day, on April 26, 1916, is pub- lished the British answer to our note of October 21, 1915, denounc- ing the British "blockade." In the six months which the leisurely gov- ernment of his majesty has taken to prepare its reply, a masterpiece of literature could have been produced. So far as length goes, the note is un- exampled. It is over 13,000 words, a veritable book. The British may fairly claim that they have broken the diplomatic long-distance record, both in the time they took to answer and in the longitude of their effort. Whatever the purpose of those 13,000 words, their effect is not to clarify but to becloud the issues they touch. Not even this long note can contribute one atom toward explain- ing the British position in terms of international law and humanity. The simple reason is that in these terms the British position is unten- able. Nor can all the dust in all those 13,000 words blind us to this staring fact. No matter how pol- ished or profuse the language which declares that black is white, the truth remains the same. The English contention of 13,000 words can be answered in one-tenth that number. There is no easier way to rend the British web than by using the very means this note puts in our hands. In this, as in previous communications, the claim is made that during the civil war, in our blockade of the Confederacy, we took measures against British trade with the southern states which now jus- tify Britain in her measures against our trade with Germany. The claim on first view is plausible. The con- clusion which Britain draws is that we are now lying in a bed we our- selves made, and that our hands are tied against protesting a procedure we invented. The true nature of the British po- sition is very clearly brought out by contrasting their present "blockade" with our civil war blockade, which they call upon for a precedent. Washington well knows the fallacy of this argument, touched upon in previous British notes. But the av- erage citizen needs to refresh his memory on our civil war practice. Whoever takes the trouble to recall the facts will find himself assured that the British contention is false, namelv, that during the civil war our blockading squadron established precedents which now prevent us from abolishing the present British lawlessness. In this crisis the thinking citizen wants the simple facts, no flight of rhetoric or appeal to passion. What is the nature of the British block- ade, what is the history and status THE BRITISH BLOCKADE 119 of our negotiations with Britain re- garding it, and what is the applica- tion of our civil war procedure to the case in hand? On March 11, 1915, England an- nounced that she would stop all goods she could seize going to or from Germany directly or via neu- tral countries. England calls this an Order in Council ; she has never dared to call it a blockade. That is why people write British "blockade" with quotation marks. A blockade of Germany, to be lawful, must be a naval operation effectually shutting all neutrals out of all German ports. But Britain dare not send her fleet into the Baltic and invest the Ger- man ports of Liibeck and Stettin. With these ports the Scandinavian countries trade unhindered. A Swede can ship a cargo of lumber to Stet- tin, but an American cannot ship a cargo from Mobile. Swedish manu- facturers of fertilizers can get potash from Liibeck, but the manufacturer at Norfolk cannot. England would intercept such an American ship- ment as it passed through the Eng- lish channel or north of Scotland. The very essence of a blockade is that it shall be effective and bear equally on all neutrals. So the think- ing citizen discovers why England does not call its action a blockade. With no blockade existing, Brit- ain's lawful interference with our German trade is restricted to the right to search German-bound ves- sels for contraband of war; our other goods — like foodstuffs and cotton — must be allowed to pass free. Britain has no right to touch a single shipment moving from Ger- many to us. To the extent that Britain in her restrictions on our German trade is exceeding this lim- itation on our exports of contraband — to this extent Britain is acting in defiance of international law. When we look at the plain facts we find that Britain lias not only killed all our trade with Germany but has crippled our trade with European neutrals, on the excuse that they might be letting food and supplies through to Germany. To be specific, the thinking citizen will find that the Holland-America Line boats dare not accept a shipment for Holland not certified by the British consul-general in New York. If the boat carried such a shipment it would be taken to a British port, searched and detained at a loss (in earnings) to the owners of $2,000 per day. The British consul-general will approve only shipments con- signed to the Netherlands govern- ment or the Netherlands Oversea Trust, a "British-led, British-ruled" band of Dutch merchants who have given England a heavy cash bond that they will allow nothing to move through to England's enemy. But no commodity may go even to these consignees unless it is on an export embargo list which Holland has been forced to enact, designed against Germany. The Scandinavian countries, lest they starve for want of overseas supplies, have been driven into just such a situation as Holland. It is this unheard-of interference in commerce between America and neutral Europe that England seeks, to justify by civil war precedents. Therefore to-day it is well worth while briefly to pass the civil war cases in review before our eyes. During that war it was found that the Confederacy was drawing large quantities of supplies from the island of Nassau in Bermuda. It i &o THE GRAVEST 366 PAYS appeared thai British vassals were carrying supplies to Bermuda, where the cargoes were trans-shipped, From Bermuda small blockade runners waited their chance to slip through the cordon of Federal warships be- fore southern ports. Warships of the United States thou intercepted British vessels bound Eor Nassau and broughl them before our prise courts, where all their Confederate supplies were condemned, on the ground that the ultimate ami not the immediate destination was the con- trolling factor. That is. (o those Confederate goods was applied the doctrine of "continuous voyage," previously developed in British courts. These, thou, were the Bermuda cases. But we seized the British ves- sels because their cargoes were on their way to pass through an Ameri- can blockade, acknowledged lawful and interposed between Nassau and the Confederacy. How does this jus- tify England seising our exports moving to Scandinavian countries? Such goods, if destined for Ger- many, are on their wav to pass from Scandinavia over the open Baltic to Stettin. No hloekade is interposed between the Scandinavian peninsula and Germany. The point is, ire ho»9 a right to ship direct to Stettin. Then how have we no righl to ship to Stettin via Gothenburg? Why may a Swede ship his own goods to Stettin and yet he estopped from forwarding to the same destination goods received from America? When Britain establishes the con- ditions \\c maintained in the Civil Wav by interposing a blockade squadron in the Baltic — then we shall allow her to call our Bermuda cases to her help and not before. Britain cannot assume the privileges o( a blockade without accepting the responsibilities. Obviously the Bermuda cases could not be cited to justify British interference with our trade to Oor- many via Holland, for that trade is to be forwarded to Germany by land, not by sea. Here the British have called up another set o( "con- tinuous voyage" cases, also of civil war time, the Matamoros cases. These, when examined, are a two- edged sword for Britain to play with. They cut not for. but against, the British contention. Federal war \essels held up Brit- ish goods destined for Texas via Matamoros. Mexico, on the Mexican bank of the bio Grande, Browns- ville, opposite Matamoros, was block- aded by the Federal fleet : Mata- moros obviously was not. Our Supreme Court decided that we might seize only the contraband on hoard such ships, and then only it it had a clear destination for Con- federate use. That is. absolute con- traband destined overland to the Confederacy was condemned, but all other goods with the same destina- tion were ordered released. For America to have interfered to greater extent than described with the lawful traffic between Fug- land and Matamoros would have been intolerable, and would never have been suffered by Great Britain. To be sure, the limitation imposed seriously impaired the tightness of our blockade of the Confederacy. But we had something else besides our own wishes to consider. As the Supremo Court said : Neutral trade (all but absolute contra- band trade) to ami from a blockaded country by inland navigation or transpor- tation is lawful, and therefore that trade between London and Matamoros, with intent to supply goods for Texas from THE BRITISH BLOCKADE 121 MatamoroK, violated no hloe admininter the public low of nationn and are not at liberty to inquire what in for the particular ad ran too<- of our own or another country. Even if Britain were maintaining a blockade of Germany — which she is not — our Matamoro- cases would forbid ber fco -top any of our export* to Holland except contraband of war, demonstrably moving to Ger- many. President Wilson knows this, Wellington will not be confused with the fine phrases of the British note. Nor need any American be confused, if he cares to examine the facts. We know that in the Civil War we did nothing that now I our hands. We know that, to-day America is the arbiter; judge, pro- tector of internationa] law, which to- day we apply on behalf of the peace- ful world. "In cases such as that now in judgment we administer the public law of nations." We shall administer it against both Ger- many's and Greaf Britain's wrong- doing- with even-handed justice. En administering this law of na- tions we shall be conscious of en- forcing not only the cold letter of the law but also the burning dic- tates of humanity. The ilk- blockade which we shall break is above all a starvation campaign leveled against the German civilian population. We shall recall the words and spirit of Thomas Jeflter- son. In 1793, when Britain was practicing just this sort of interfer- ence with our exports to her enemy, France, Jefferson declared : Bbe (Britain) nay indeed feel the de- tire Of starving ;in enemy nation, hut the can bare do rij;ht. of doing it at our lo - not of making n0,000 in 1914? We can stop these exports or any part of them, and give Great Britain a taste of her own medicine. For ex- ample, in the two years since the war began Great Britain has taken from us 400,000.000 pounds of cop- per, while her normal consumption in two peace years is 300,000,000 pounds. She is eight months ahead of her quota. Our exports of iron and steel articles, mainly to Eng- land and her allies, amounted to $621,000,000 in 1916, compared with $251,000,000 in 1914! This last year Great Britain and her THE BEITISH BLOCKADE 135 friends took over two years' supplies. Suppose now that we were to apply to them the yardstick they apply to our neutral trade, and require Great Britain to wait eight months for copper and two years for steel ? Of course there are many things that Washington can do. But it could have done them at any time.. —Sept. 19, 1916. DANGER ON THE CANADIAN LINE The bulk of the iron ore that sup- plies our many great steel mills comes from the beds near Lake Su- perior. The ships that transport this ore for the mills in the Lake Michigan territory pass through the locks of Sault Ste. Marie. The ships that carry the ore for the mills in the Lake Erie territory pass through the Sault Ste. Marie locks and the long strait connecting Lake Erie and Lake Huron. The locks and the strait have Canada on one side and the United States on the other. It is difficult in the present activ- ity to keep the mills stocked with sufficient raw material. For months the ore carriers of the great lakes have been worked to the limit, yet it is feared that when navigation closes on the lakes there will not be enough ore at the mills to keep them going until spring. Before the war Canada was a pledge of peace. It was a matter of pride to the United States, Great Britain and Canada that the line be- tween the United States and Canada was unfortified ; that the feeling of confidence and good will between the United States and Great Britain was so well established that Canada, with no military establishment, could be left with its doors open to the United States, and that the United States, with little of a mili- tary establishment, could leave its doors open to Canada. Time and the war have made changes. Canada has sent many men to the battle fronts in Europe. When the war ends several hundred thousand fighting men, trained to the highest state of efficiency in the use of guns and in all branches of military service, will return to Can- ada. The war has not improved our re- lations with Great Britain or Can- ada. When, all appeals to reason failing, we threatened reprisals for British violation of America's trade rights, the attitude of Great Britain was defiant, bitter, almost truculent. Great Britain is not insensible to America's weak points. Possibly she considers that, with the Euro- pean war ended and Canada's fight- ing men back in Canada, several hundred thousand trained men sweeping over the border could seize the ore beds of Lake Superior, par- alyze the steel industry, capture or destroy the locks of the Sault Ste. Marie, and command the strait at Detroit. Canada does not appear at this moment much like a pledge of peace. —Sept. 20, 1916. THE BRITISH JOKEBOOK There is a proverbial saying, in this country, that Englishmen have no sense of humor. The truth is that Englishmen either have no sense of humor or are convinced that we have none. Otherwise they would not perpetrate upon us the ridiculous solemnities which come across the cables. 136 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS The latest solemn joke is the Brit- ish reason for suspending permission for us to export certain commodities to Holland and Scandinavia, such as clover seeds, hides, tanning ma- terials, linen thread and apples. His majesty's government cannot allow this nefarious traffic to pro- ceed further because Groat Britain is already faced with a large hill for detention caused to neutral amers which were taken into Kirkwall and. after long delay, found innocent and released with- out coming before a British prize court. The New York Times dispatch from London says Great Britain is shutting down on our exports to neutral Europe because of the grow- ing hill with which Great Britain is being pressed by neutral govern- ments for demurrage and other ex- penses incurred by taking suspected ships into Kirkwall and other ports for examination. So far as is known, no machinery exists at pres- ent for adjusting these claims be- cause many of the cargoes never actually reached the prize court. When shippers ask for compensa- tion they are referred to the prize court, which thus far has declined to consider their claims, on the ground that they have no standing in court. In the history of international law. is there anything to compare with this situation? International law requires England to find on a neutral steamer for Scandinavia proof of the presence of contra- hand with German destination. The proof must he found on the steamer, which may not otherwise lawfully he taken into port to be unloaded, ransacked and detained. But his majesty's cruisers take such neutral vessels into Kirkwall and there unload, ransack and de- tain them. No evidence is found to justify taking goods or steamer be- fore the British prize court, for they are innocent. Therefore, Brit- ish justice can devise no means to reimburse the ransacked goods for damage and the steamer for deten- tion, caused by a belligerent that had no right to touch them, at all. That is British Joke 349. Q u ery : W o uld his m a j e sty's go v- ernment he as impotent if faced with the problem of suggesting a means for some other belligerent to make amends for similar damage lawlessly done to British steamers and goods, if Great Britain were neutral in this war? History has no lesson that is clearer than Brit- ish insistence upon the rights of neutrals in war time. But the jest does not end here. His majesty's government, faced with the insoluble problem of pro- viding justice for acknowledged damage to innocent goods and ves- sels lawlessly seized, cuts the Gor- dian knot by ordering vessels and goods off the seas. That is British Joke 350. Some day, when this war is over, or perhaps earlier, a Mark Twain will arise in America capable of writing the proper supplement to the text-books on international law. In the meantime, the three White Books of our official diplomatic cor- respondence, issued by the State De- partment, upholds the best standards of British humor* or lack of it. —Sept 21, 1916. The Freedom of the Seas A MENACE TO THE WORLD The interests of the world are so bound together in this advanced stage of commercial and social de- velopment that no nation can apply any policy which breaks up the fabric of international relations without doing serious injury to many nations. A case in point is the death of the New York nurse in Germany from infection caused by the lack of rubber gloves in her work of ministering to the wounded. Great Britain had put a ban on the at- tempt of the American Red Cross to send such gloves to Germany. The protests of the American am- bassador at London had failed to obtain a relaxation of the British refusal to admit rubber hospital supplies into the enemy's country. The assurances of Mr. Gerard, American ambassador at Berlin, that he himself would undertake to see that the rubber gloves proffered by the American Red Cross were applied solely to the charitable pur- pose for which they were intended, had no better result. Great Britain has persisted in her insuperable ob- stacles to American humane im- pulses and has added to the suffer- ings and the hazards of those who are devoting themselves to the alle- viation of suffering in Germany. This effect of British sea power upon an American nurse, and doubt- less upon the entire hospital person- nel of a greai country with which we are in friendly relations, is one manifestation of the infinite possi- bilities of control of I he oceans when it is vested in the hands of one nation. Another such manifes- tation out of the hundreds which have developed since the war began is seen in the embargo just placed upon Logwood by Great Britain. Logwood is the basis of the only natural dyes which have proved a satisfactory substitute for aniline dyes, now under the ban of the Brit- ish admiralty, much to the distress of the American manufacturers. Britain has prohibited the exporta- tion to America and other neutral countries of this wood, most of which has been coming from Ja- maica. The British manufacturers, however, can get all they want of it. Like the prohibition of the sup- ply of rubber gloves to Germany, the withholding of logwood from the I'nited States is based upon Great Britain's unquestioned supremacy on the sea. It is made possible by the power of the British navy, which deprives American manufac- turers of an essential product while it assures to their British rivals an uninterrupted supply of the same product. • If exclusive rights on the sea are to remain the accepted rule in the future as they have been in the past, Great Britain might as well have them as any other power. But the time is past when the world can af- 13S THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS ford to intrust such power over life and of commerce to any nation. The control of the seas should be vested, not in a nation nor in a group of nations, bent upon the ex- ploitation of their sovereignty for their own selfish purposes, but in a council of all the maritime nations, pledged to administer its trust for the benefit of the entire world. That is the only solution of the problem. — Dec. 9, 1915. LORD NORTHCLIFFE'S "GER- MAN TIGER" "Whether Lord Northcliffe is au- thorized, or not, authoritatively to announce British policies, no doubt he is able to voice the sentiments and feelings of a considerable por- tion of the British people. In his address to "at least" 50,000,000 Americans, therefore, what he says doubtless reflects a measure of British opinion, especially as what we are about to quote coincides per- fectly with a recent pronouncement of President Bunciman, of the Brit- ish Board of Trade and a member of the privy council. Describing what he characterizes as "tigerish" German qualities, and professing to believe that Great Britain has the "German Tiger where we want him," he concludes: Finally, the main policy of Great Britain is : First, to keep German ships off the sea so long as a single German soldier remains in allies' territory and so long as an indemnity to Belgium. France and Russia is unpaid. If that be the main British pol- icy, and events should enable Great Britain to carry it out. the nearly 5,000,000 tons of German merchant ships that are laid up in all parts of the world will be about as useful as "a painted ship upon a painted ocean," because they will rust into useless hulks long before Germany could pay such an indemnity as doubtless will be exacted, should the allies win the war. It would mean, not the annihilation of German sea- borne trade, but that the conduct of that trade would fall into Brit- ish hands, largely, and the develop- ment of it would be subject to Brit- ish regulation. If in this manner some 5,000,000 tons of shipping is to be withheld from use because it happens to be German-owned, 5,- 000,000 tons of other shipping will have to take its place, and who can supply it but Great Britain? It means, in short, that the price that Great Britain intends to exact from Germany, if she can, will be the per- manent relinquishment by Germany of her merchant marine. Thus the most formidable competitor upon the seas that Great Britain has met during the past three-fourths of a century will be permanently dis- posed of. There is something for the people of the United States seriously and gravely to consider in these identi- cal statements issued by President Eunciman and Lord Northcliffe. Should differences arise, as they may, between the United States and Great Britain, in the competition between the two nations in their quests for foreign markets for their surplus products, and in the build- ing up of their shipping with which to carry on their foreign trade, and these differences should lead to mis- understandings eventuating in war, it might easily happen that the peo- ple of the United States would de- velop qualities that the British would regard as "tigerish," and that THE FREEDOM OF THE SEAS 139 it would become necessary for Great Britain to subject American ship- ping, and thus American foreign trade, to such regulation as Great Britain would deem proper, should Great Britain be the victor in such a war. That is to say, the policy Britons intend to apply to German shipping, . if the allies succeed in winning the present war, is the policy that Great Britain regards as best calculated to serve British ends. Germany, for tbe moment, is the contemplated victim. The victim, the next time the application of the policy may be necessary for the furtherance of British interests, may happen to be the United States — would, most likely of all other nations, be the United States. Of course, such a fate may be spared our shipping if we pursue the course we have pursued for the past half century or more or vol- untarily depending upon foreign (chiefly British) shipping for the conduct of our foreign trade, and of allowing American shipping to disappear utterly from the seas. In that case the development of for- eign markets for our surplus prod- ucts, to the extent that there would be any such development, would be subject to such regulation, no doubt, as Great Britain should determine would cause the least interference with the development of British for- eign commerce. Great Britain plans that the out- come of the present war, in short, shall be the strengthening of Great Britain's grip upon the mastery of the seas. If we presume to contest that mastery, we may properly, and very wisely indeed, adequately pre- pare to protect ourselves, or subject our shipping, our foreign trade and our country to such restraint and humiliation as Great Britain ex- pects to apply to German shipping, German foreign trade, and Ger- many, if she can. — Jan. 8, 1916. ENGLAND'S BAD BET "Mistress of the Seas" has been a picturesque name for England, but not an exact designation. Eng- land has been, rather, the trustee of the seas. Other nations have per- mitted her to hold the keys to the narrow gates of the oceans so long as she observed a certain degree of fairness. If she administered de- cently her custodianship of Gibral- tar, nations were willing to forget that she came by that important rock under clouded circumstances. If she used properly her control of the Suez Canal, nations ceased to question the methods by which Dis- raeli gobbled that great cut to the east. Nations have not asked Eng- land "How did you get it?" but "Are you using it rightly?" But now England seems to be re- garding the seas as property in fee simple. The trusteeship is to be used as a club, striking neutral as well as foe. Command of the sea is to be used as command of the world. Not every one in England is blind to the follow of such pro- cedure, else there would not be such internal debate over the wisdom of the proposed blockade. An English writer on naval affairs, Archibald Hurd, sounds in the Fortnightly Review the note of warning to the trustee : "The enemy's peril arises from the fact that he cannot use the sea to obtain supplies ; ours from the fact that we can, and that we are abusing our sea power, thus, it not imperiling our eventual victory, at any rate delaying it 110 THE GRAYEST 366 DAYS and making it far more costly than it need be." Mr. Hurd sees that England is on the way to lose an economic bet so large that losing it would ruin her. He sees that England has made her fat living off the sea because she used it honestly. But now, as he says : "Every condition on which our wel- fare depends has undergone a change since hostilities opened except the com- mand of the sea. and on that support we are leaning to an extent which may lead to unfortunate consequences. Sea power is merely the maritime expression of man power and money power ; money power depends on economic power. We have been withdrawing and are with- drawing thousands of men from factories and workshops, with the result that our exports have fallen ; we are using 25 per cent, of our merchant navy for the war, with a corresponding shortage of tonnage for commercial purposes." England's sea power, hitherto so craftily administered as to be un- objectionable to most of the nations, is what has held together the Brit- ish empire. Nations have not all appreciated how huge that sea power is. Britain, drawing the vel- vet glove from the hand of steel, will show them, and the very act must arouse a spirit of antagonism throughout the world. Men have seen what dominion of the sea means when honestly used. Now they will see what it means when the dominant power decides to dis- obey the spirit and the letter of the law of the ^yov\d.— Jan. 29, 1916. REAL BASIS OF SEA DOMINION If the military and naval value to a nation of numerous thoroughly up-to-date shipyards, with experi- enced and trained shipbuilders, has not yet been completely demon- strated to the American people dur- ing this European war. then the case of the United States is absolutely hopeless. All the world has seen that, not militarism, but navalism, dominates the world, and that naval- ism is synonymous with Britishism. The sustaining power of the Brit- ish navy is the British merchant marine, while the British navy safe- guards British mercantile shipping from serious injury, in which the navy is fortified through British possession of controlling strategic bases that dominate all of the trade routes of the world. But British war and merchant ships are predi- cated upon dominant British ship- building. It is inconceivable that Great Britain could be the dominant sea power that to-day she is if the nation were dependent upon other countries for its warships or its peo- ple were dependent upon other coun- tries for their merchant ships. It is not too much to say that, to- day, the foreign trade of the world is conducted by permission of Great Britain. The growth of the world's foreign trade serves Britain's ends. It is an endless chain of profit to Britons. For any nation seriously to contest British maritime su- premacy is to court destruction. And this is so because Britons be- lieve that successful rivalry of Brit- ish sea dominion means the passing of the Great Britain that, for cen- turies, the world has grown accus- tomed to. The basis of this is British con- trol of the world's shipbuilding. If she does not do the carrying for all the world, her shipbuilders build most of the ships engaged in the world's carrying, a condition satis- factory to Britons, because the ar- THE FEEEDOM OF THE SEAS 141 rangement is one that does not threaten — on the contrary it serves to promote — Britain's control of the world. Nor is the lesson which, in blaz- ing letters of fire and blood the world is now being taught, more than partly learned, if it is not as clear as crystal to all mankind that navalism is a greater political in- strument than it is commercial or maritime. If the United States is to expand commercially, as it must expand, in time its rivalry of Great Britain will become acute. The United States has no desire to expand in any other way than commercially. Shall we wait until we have reached the stage of acuteness before we realize that one of the most useful safeguards with which now we may surround our foreign trade is a merchant marine wholly home- built? Not for a single moment would we permit ourselves to be de- pendent upon other nations for our warships; we know that would be nationally suicidal. We have yet to realize that it is equally suicidal, na- tionally, for us to be dependent upon our greatest, our most astute rival, for the instruments essential to the conduct of our foreign trade — merchant ships. If our commercial expansion is to be restricted, if it is to be kept within what Great Britain may con- ceive to be reasonable limits — that is to say, so abridged as in no man- ner whatsoever to threaten any abatement of British sea dominion and British commercial expansion — then, of course, as President Wilson said in his annual message to Con- gress last month, "our independ- ence is provincial, and is only on land and within our own borders/' which is but a veiled manner of say- ing that we are not independent at all, so long as we have the need of increasing foreign markets for our rapidly growing surplus products. We have every resource within ourselves, in the most ample abund- ance, for shipbuilding — material and men. Manifestly our commercial independence is to be had only through the possession of a mer- chant marine of our own fully equal to all of our commercial require- ments. Perhaps our political in- dependence can only be assured through a merchant marine of our own. Is it wise — is it sane — for us to depend upon others, particularly our most formidable rivals, for our merchant ships? — Jan. 31, 1916. A STRUGGLE BEGUN IN ANTIQUITY One of the greatest authorities on the law of the sea was born in Hol- land on Easter Sunday, 1583, 333 years ago to-morrow. His name was Huig van Groot, although he is better known under his Latinized name of Hugo Grotius. Long be- fore the birth of Grotius a king of France, whose uncle was king of Spain, wrote to his august uncle in Madrid in response to Spain's invi- tation to France to keep off the seas : If you can show me a deed signed by the Almighty making over to you the ownership and guardianship of the seas of the earth, I shall recognize your claim to those rights. Otherwise I will con- test them. Before this somewhat irreverent declaration of the freedom of the seas by that king of France, the question had been fought out by great nations, some of which have now ceased to exist. Rome, chal- 142 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS lenged by the growing commercial and maritime influence of Carthage, accepted that challenge and en- tered upon a historic struggle to disprove the validity of the claim to exclusive domination of the Med- iterranean — the seven seas of that period — which the Carthaginians were gradually developing. Be- cause of the preposterous claim to sea sovereignty - which Carthage was formulating, Marcus Fortius Cato enunciated the famous phrase which has thundered down the ages : "De- lenda est Carthago" — ••Carthage must he destroyed." In the first and second Punic wars Carthage was destroyed after prodigies of valor and of military skill which have made the names of the Carthaginian generals, Hanni- bal ami llamikar. synonyms' for strength of soul, inflexibility o( pur- pose ami a patriotism unquench- able. In the end Carthage fell — ami with her fell the theory of ex- elusive domination of the seas. Also the Carthaginians eeased to exisl as a nation. Earlier than even the Punic wars another o( the world's historic struggles had heen waged over the same principle — the freedom of the seas. That war was the lou^ siege of Troy. Situated at the mouth of what is now known as the Darda- nelles Strait. Troy, with her king. Priam, was in a position to levy toll and cess upon the sea-horne trade of Greece, in the same way as the pirates of Gibr-Al-Tarik, the modern Gibraltar, levied upon ships that passed into or out of the Med- iterranean at a much later period. Troy fell after a heroic defense, and the theory of exclusive sea-rights fell with it. The Trojans also ceased to exist as a nation. Grotius, the citizen of a country which had a large sea commerce menaced by Portugal, codified the principles for which the Punic wars and the Trojan war had been fought — the principles which the irreverent king of France had up- held in his impertinent letter to the king of Spain. After giving to the world a work on the law of sea prizes, he wrote a treatise on "Mare Liherum"— "Free Seas." In that work he maintained that all na- tions had equal rights on the oceans of the world and that no nation could lay claim to exclusive rights. An Englishman, Selden byname, at a later date gave expression to England's views on the subject in a treatise entitled "Mare Clausum," or "A Closed Sea." The doctrines which Grotius had enunciated were refuted by the British navy — the first distinctive navy of that period. And the struggle which has its origin in the mists of the remotest history is being fought out once more in the greatest war the world has ever known. Germany has at- tempted to contest Britain's claim to sea-domination. Britain has ut- tered the phrase of Cato. brought up to date: "Delenda est Germania" — "Germany must be destroyed." Will the teachings of Grotius prevail, or will those of Selden carry the day? The world is deeply interested in the answer to that question, which is being written amid the smoke and stress of battles. —Apr. ??. 1916. FREEDOM OF THE SEAS We hear much in these days of' the freedom of the seas, and yet our popular ideas on the subject are so inexact and vague that the ex-. THE FREEDOM OF THE SEAS 143 pression means little to our minds. Germany declares that she wants the freedom of the seas as one out- come of this war. England says that for Germany to talk of the free- dom of the seas is pure foolishness; the seas have been free, and in their freedom Germany developed a mer- chant marine second in the world and an export trade whose growth knows no parallel. The freedom of the- seas surely concerns neutrals as well as bellig- erents, for the seas are the common property and highway of us all. At the coining peace negotiations the question will play an important part in tlie settlements there made. It is important for us to make clear to ourselves just what the freedom of the seas means, iii the interest of the United States. Freedom of the seas means, if it means anything, immunity of pri- vate property on the seas in war time. Obviously the seas are free in peace time. Nobody interferes with their unobstructed use by the trade of all nations. But in war time the stronger of two belligerents captures or chases off the ocean the enemy's merchant ships, and intercepts all contraband of war destined to the enemy. If a blockade can be main- tained by the dominant sea power — that is, if ships from all neutral na- tions can be shut out from all enemy ports — then the enemy can be lit- erally besieged by water and de- prived of all communication by sea. This is lawful and neutrals must ac- cept as gracefully as possible such interference with commerce. A neu- tral nation is at one end of every trade route thus closed. Civilization has meant the grad- ual elimination of areas where war was a regular occurrence and their replacement by areas of peace, com- merce, prosperity. The record of this progress of civilization on the high seas is what we call interna- tional law. International law re- cords the establishment of treaties and precedents by which the ability of a sea power to annihilate the enemy's trade was limited — not in the interest of the enemy thus aided, but in the interest of neutrals who had no part in the making of the war. In every war some strong neu- tral — usually Great Britain — has forced the belligerents to recognize these neutral rights, until they came to represent an established step toward freedom of the seas. In this war the duty has fallen upon the United States to uphold these neutral rights — that the domi- nant sea power should not, unless it maintained a lawful blockade, in- terfere with the commerce of neu- trals except to intercept our ship- ments of contraband of war. II is this duty which we have shirked. Great Britain is the domi-. mint sea power. She is not block- ading Germany, keeping ships from all nations shut out of German ports. Sweden trades unhindered with German Baltic ports. Then why shall not we? Great Britain, without assuming the obligations of a blockade, assumes its privileges; that is. Great Britain seizes all our trade with Germany and much of our trade with European neutrals. It is the destruction of the freedom of the seas, it is a step back twoard that marine barbarism from which the world lias slowly evolved. Now the interest of this great country is wider than the interest to prevent present and future losses from the damming of trade currents hitherto stamped as lawful. The 1 II THE GRAVEST 866 DAYS greater principle at stake is that, it' this is to prevail, no nation Id the future will dare depend upon over sea supplies o( any necessity o( life. Every nation must put a Chinese wall about itself and raise at home everything it needs, for war is al- ways possible^ war with a stronger sea power, which would mean na- tional destruction for that sea pow- er's enemy. Whal is done in this war is a precedent for all others. All this would mean the oblitera- tion of half the currents o( world trade, and the rescinding o\ that international division of labor and exchange o( products which makes us all prosperous. If we allowed Great Britain to carry through her present operations to the end o( the war we should be the enemy of civilisation. That is why the United States is >:oinu' to force England — in her own and the world's interest — to abide by the law oi nations on the sea. That is why the United States at the peace congress will try to crown us efforts through all the nineteenth century io have adopted the prin- ciple of the immunity o( private property at sea in war time. — June 18, 1916. CONCERNING OUR FOREIGN TRADE In the midst of our prosperity we pause and ask ourselves: are we pre- paring for prosperity in the future: What is to be the influence of our international policy, for example. upon the future of America? Out future prosperity is inti- mately connected with the growth of our export trade. We need for- eign markets to absorb our surplus production, both agricultural and industrial, but mainly of manufao tured goods. We have always been an exporter of products of farm, forest and mine. If anything hap- pens to close the foreign markets for cotton, wheat, lumber, copper, oil. the un-taken foreign quota weighs upon the home market and brings adversity to all producers. This was graphically illustrated when the export cotton movement was dammed in August and Sep- tember. 1914. So it will be with most of our in- dustries after this war. We shall find ourselves with a factory pro- duction far beyond our consuming power. Oversea markets must be kept open. What will be the future influence of the administration's foreign pol- icy upon this question of oversea markets? In this war we have allowed Great Britain, the dominant sea power, to abolish the rights o( Ger- many to receive from us food, cot- ton, lumber, oil. phosphate rock, and all necessities o( life and industrial activity. Great Britain did not do this by a blockade; she does not dare call her action a blockade. Out- State department denounces it as "ineffective, illegal and indefensi- ble." It is a series of orders in council, a substitute for interna- tional law. We denounce and pro- test, yet we submit. Now the important point is not the fact that we violate neutrality by continuing to ship to England while refusing to exercise our right to ship to Germany. One much more important thing is that Ger- many is being driven to devise sub- THE FBEEDOM OF THE SI. 145 statutes for our products and will never turn to as again. But that is not the main i- It is: \o nation in the future can dare become dependent on us for indispensable mpplies. The prin- ciple haf been established that a superior sefl power may cut off a country's whole trade, even if the power cannot maintain a legal blockade— which is probably ren- dered forever impossible by the de- velopment of the submarine. Iv.ery nation, except England, may find itself at war with a su- perior sea power, and must be pre- pared 10 meet this contingency. How. then, can any nation, during peace, make itself dependent upon oversea supplies which may be cut in war and starvation result? It is this consideration that shows what "the freedom of the seas" means, it means the assur- ance that in war neutrals will force the recognition of international law and will not allow your enemy to cut your oversea supplies of any- thing but contraband. Without that assurance, that confidence which is at the basis of international trade, disappears. In self-protection na- tions must become self-supporting in all necessities of life, not inter- dependent. This is the real significance of our acquiescence in the lawless British procedure. We are not hurting Germany or helping starve her — she has met the situation. But the ad- ministration has betrayed the fu- ture of international commercial re- lations and has done its best to help create a world of nations mutually distrustful and hostile in economic as well as military fields — Sept. 6, 1916. PRINCIPLE OF FREE TRADE THREATENED By Dr. M. J. Bo Free trader- have never had much difficulty in refuting the purely eco- nomic argument.- of their protection- ist adversaries. There was a politi- cal argument which always gi them trouble. In time- of peace, this argument run-, i'r<;(i trade '■.-eel lent. By relying on imports from foreign countries, and by send- ing export- to them, nations nourish. A kind of economic international- ism, based on mutual advantaj bound to arise. The friendly rela- tions which exist between the United States and England, for example, are due, in part at least, to British i'rt'/: trade, which has linked the prosperity of many American indus- tries with the safety and the welfare of the United Kingdom. Few big nation-, it. is true, fol- lowed a policy of absolute free trade. But they relied largely on imports from abroad of raw materials and. food-tuffs. This dependence on for- eign markets and on foreign sup- plies has become more marked every r. notwithstanding protectionist tariffs. A policy of free trade would have greatly accelerated it. The adoption of such a policy was most effectively impeded by the fear that increased dependence on foreign trade might greatly endanger the nations in time of war. Trade Bars Want War breaks up the commercial in- tercourse between nations, depriving them of their accustomed supplies. A- most commodities can be had from many sources, there is little danger of serious want as long as the trade with neutrals contim 1 16 T11K CBAYEST o(U> DAYS Overland trade with neutrals can- not be stopped by the belligerents, but a In I'm 1 share of international trade— especially the trade in food- stuffs and raw materials — is oversea trade, which can be cut off by them. Outside the three-mile limit the sea is a neutral area, open to all nations alike in time of peace. In war time the belligerents have as- sumed the right to seise all ships belonging to the enemy; thev have the right to stop and search neutral vessels; they confiscate goods they consider contraband, even if they belong to neutrals; thev have the right to elose the enemies' ports against all trade by means of the "blockade." England's Sea Policy The strongest advocate of these rights in the past was "free trade" England. Being an island, she was not compelled to spend much money on land defense; she could afford to build the biggest navy on earth. She controlled most points of van- tage on the trade routes o\' the world. These combined advantages enabled her to intercept all direct oversea trade of her enemies at strategical points like Gibraltar or Kirkwall. As long as her communi- cations could not he interfered with in straits controlled by her enemies, or as long as her naval supremacy was unchallenged, a predatory state of international maritime law suited her convenience. && her population increased she became more dependent on foreign food supply. Her supremacy at sea was not so unchallenged as before. Her island situation was no longer safe, for modem speed shortened distances — and modern transporta- tion made an invasion loss difficult. On the other hand, the great de- velopment in railroad communica- tions made continental countries less dependent on sea-borne trade: they could get oversea supplies by indi- rect imports from neighboring coun- tries. The British people had to be protected against starvation in ease of failure of the British navy; while the navy wanted to maintain her right to destroy the enemies' trade. England did not advocate the free- dom o\' the seas, but she insisted on the freedom from seizure of foodstuffs and raw materials. She insisted in 1885 and again in the Russian-Japanese war that "food- stuffs with a hostile destination can he considered contraband of war only if they are supplies for the ene- mies' forces. It is not sufficient that they are capable of being so used; it must he shown thai it was in fact their destination at the time of seizure." These views were shared by the leading sea powers. They made a nation's starvation in time of war nearly impossible. England could enjoy free trade in time of peace, as her food supply was guaranteed by neutral shipping in lime of war. even if British naval supremacy faded. Declaration of London To bring about complete uniform- ity in international law relative to naval warfare. England invited the powers (February 8T, 1908) to a conference, which elaborated the so- called Declaration of London, (Feb- ruary 26, 1909). This declaration is a codification of the existing law; it does not contain any new law. It provided that foodstuffs were "con- THE FliKEbOM OF THE SEAS J 47 ditiona) contraband" and as Huch liable to seizure only if destined for the encmys' forces; most raw mate- rials, cotton, wood, ores, oil, etc., were on the free list, arid not sub- ject to seizure "as they may not be declared contraband of war/' It provided that a blockade "must not be directed against a neutral port in spite of the importance to a bellig- erent of the part played by that neu- tral port in supplying its adver- sary." Good documented for a neutral port which are classified as conditional contraband cannot be confiscated; "no examination will be made as to whether they are to be forwarded to the enemy by sea or land from that neutral port Indirect trading ria neutral ports was to be i'nta, with the exception of absolute contraband. The Declara- tion of London u-n- the Magna Charta of free trade in time of war. I la idly a fortnight after the out- break of the present war, Kngland destroyed this instrument which was to be the safe foundation for the development of free trade across the seas. England's alliance with France, Russia and Japan prevented Ger- many from cutting England's over- sea connections. England can do at present without the protection of the Declaration of London, though she was reluctant to discard it on ac- count, of its possible use in future. She' put a stop to direct oversea trading with Germany in food .-tuff-, by means of neutral boats, by mak- ing them liable to seizure if ad- dressed "to an agent of the enemy state, or to or for a merchant or other person under the control of the authorities of the enemy stat All persons in Germany with the exception of the foreign diplomats ar" under the control of the Ger- man government. She prevented indirect, trading via Holland or Denmark by making neutral cargo on a neutral .-hip hound for a. neu- tral port liable to Seizure, if there w;i- a suspicion of their reaching the enemy. When it could be proved that the enemy drew supplies from a neutral country (for example, from Holland;, "a neutral vessel which is carrying conditional contraband to a port in that country shall not be im- mune from capture/' She declared articles like wool, which w<:r<; on the free list, contraband, and practically wiped out the distinction between olute and conditional contraband. Lastly, -he closed the entrance gates to Germany to all neutral ship- ping and to all free neutral goods di- rectly or indirectly destined for Q many. She did not declare a block- ade, for a blockade cannot be made effective as long as the allies do not control the Baltic; it is inadmissible under these circumstances; she merely assumed a control of the mouth of the North sea in contra- diction to all international law. Supposed Power of Neutrals Free traders always have acknowl- edged that belligerents might try to break the existing rules of interna- tional law. In that case, they argued, the neutrals would proted their own commercial right and with it the principle of international trade by insisting on the mainten- ance of existing law. They would that foodstuffs and raw mate- rial- would reach the belligerents by sea in neutral boat-, as long as there was not an effective blockade; and by land via neighboring countries, if such a blockade was declared. It seemed to them quite safe to rely 1 18 THE r.KAYKST ;UU? PAYS upon foreign supplies in tune of peace it' thev were sure to go on during war. They have boon vcrv tmu'h mistaken, The smaller neutral states, like Scandinavia and Holland, are de- pendent on the import of foodstuffs and raw materials for the use of their own people. Croat Britain stopped their supplies from neutral countries until thev levied an em- bargo on exports to Germany They had a perfect right to do what they liked with neutral imports: hut they had to choose between insistence on their rights, followed by starvation, and a sacrifice o( international law. Oi course, thev chose the latter. The only country strong enough to vindicate the rights of neutrals was the United States. They were the great exporters o( foodstutl's, raw material and manufactures, upon whose good will the allies de- pended. They have been the tradi- tional champions of the free sea. The United States government has been unable to safeguard the rights of neutrals and the unhampered trade in peaceful goods. They in- sisted successfully on the exercise of the contested right oi American citizens to travel in a .one oi war on armed belligerent vessels carry- ing the worst sort oi contraband — explosives; thev were unable to en- force the uncontested right oi Amer- ican citizens in sending foodstutl's to the civil population of the central powers. ffWTI CAl MAGA ZINE' Tt CHflK U ; Qw CRITICAL JCVKTCM... ^vC Fm Txe orricrus <><• t»c 'MERCANTILE >\:ari>iE . IOYM NAVAL EESERYT C.-- YACHTSMEN SEA DOMINION. SRE ■(• . * :\< car undoubted dominion of the 9** to the utmost * Ww are not ! Why f Fee* u at we have a lawrcr Qej*MMMIIt: trakk apparently, MM ool know .'.s o*o M 6* ■ *Wl C»t* I, 1 • v . . W a* MM i»>e «»d datr *o* t-e> We bc*ps — we trust — that our military War Minister it, | ;S a on*. Fui a* the Sea Sen ve fMfVMAttM as *e!l as n»»\ | ti« ruled #^dU from the very be|inmng. how ts it that we hare no paTal War KtMMM Ho* ii it thai this MMMM 0. 1 vem coco i of our* cannot. apparently, face the conditions under «h;,-S tS ■* war M*s<' be conducted if »f would win * Amfnctn in^rwl* forsooth ' Why' it wo rsgidtj enforced » blockade and agreed or any loss in interests * and eou'd by this shorten the »*r >;. mm tinglt SMoaifsi, it avuM e*»e us money. Wt are MM* iha: we »r* spe -.■ t| S3 -\w\v * mj Im%m£1J month « eh a sum pay for e»ery interest that suffered by a rigjM blockade I Of tttN| it mW ' and there mH Ml a month's less loss of life. Yet mm C«.-»eroa>ent continue* to writ* letters to the American Government Was it not an Amercao who aaid 'The pec ia nxgblier tban the sword* ' No doubt, Kt iha IMjIU^ of dollara i ye» unlets w« »r» cawfuT. (hf " pen " m»y MM MJi What are marine la*j> to MJ * Wby write a mats of verbiac* re'atjoj to t:;^rts oi Toaaol* and tba mstenal lots MtMitetMll Anicru-a m p:''.n< \ip her htan oi dv^Hara. |MWMK *.*oo' WA :»'v r.ch MM lb:s Kuropoan w»j, and a Mjn katgi MMMWM of (heat American baaioett men who art cryiru; out at* 0*rtn*n«. or ot liermaa parentage. Praaidant WmMB ■» a mere MXMl ■ bad ibere bteo a man like Abraham Lincoln at (he head pi thai nation, we thculd have bad Americas help instead of ber hiodtanct long taoot. America says that »hrt tv^ cripple the eueiuy. At present w* art playini; *ith th ■« matter, ar.d our flee; it — a gtMl part of* il — idle Bat in doing this «e must be careful that no ateps aw ta'ven eioept for purposes of »a: We must see th»: do complaint can be laid ftgtaMl u» that *e are MMMMj a blockade in the interest* of Br*.t;*h ua.le lUMMI MM MM let M enforce a stem blockade ^n every neutral, and listen to no pro setts- We command the rea, ahd that command will in the end decide the issue whatever MMsMtt are before ui »hv then "MM thai power by trirtit-c. in the interest of -entral trade With such a »ar as tics MmtN * cannot reasonably expect to go aboul their business » f*ho at interference . they may be tbankfal that they are- spared' the bun.-. * j thai, to spits of inter* ImMMM '-hey are heap MJ tf r ic Ma Ml ISM Oentr»l-^mp:res are pressing on towards MMMM fcoa.1 they get (here. c*n they retain Mil Suppose that Oermany o«err.int Asia Vinor. can she remain ibene " Not uo'oss she can gain command bfl MMMMseMMB by sea and this she cannot do Sea power then, >ea power wilV ]0 the sod. decide the *ar ahaterrr happens on laud Where then ■ Mt oa»ai War Minister t TBI MMMaK , THE I'KKKUOM OF Till-; SKAS L49 Principles of Free Trade Sacrificed What w;i ■-, at take was Dot a mere commercial advantage, which oan be easily adjusted by compensation; what wai really sacrificed was the principle of free trade. 1 1 th< nen trals cannot safeguard the rights of f»eaceful I rading in i ime of war, !. igerenl will not resped it when military nece sil ie are in question. And if nations are confronted with the ri I. of tarval ion in time of war, because I hey relied on foreign ap- plies in time of peace, they a shape their commercial policy in future if) such a way as to be fairly self-supporl ing. The <■ ■ perience of the centra] powers during the war has shown that this can be accom- plished in a considerable way at a very heavy economic sacrifice. As ecurity 1h more important than wealth, nations will be willing to bring such sacrifice. H cannot be done without, very heavy tariffs All over the world there i a revival of the protection] it spirit. The plans for a en toms union of central Eu- rope and the economic propoi ale of the allies illustrate that qu clearly as the new American dump- ing legi lation. It owe rength to the breakdown of that right of peaceful trading in time of war which the declaration of London well as the exisi ing cu tomary in- ternational law seemed to ha cured forever for mankind. II was de troyed by "U-c<: trade" England. And America, the traditional cham- pion of the free seai , has so far been unable to re e tablish it. — Sept. 1 1, L916. ( h'rovi New York Evening Post.) Mail Seizures RESCIND THE SUSPENSION OF PARCEL POST TO GER- MANY AND AUSTRIA Every rule of fairness, every in- stinct of humanity., presses hard upon the national administration at Washington to rescind its recent order suspending the parcel post service to Germany and Austria. During the week that has elapsed since the suspension was announced, hundreds of protesting letters have reached President Wil- son and Postmaster-General Burle- son, entreating them to insist that the steamship companies carry out their contract with our government to accept and deliver its mails without discrimination as to des- tination or character. It should not be possible for any private corporation, to nullify part of its undertaking with our gov- ernment on the ground that an- other nation — in this case, Eng- land — will harass its ships if it lives up to its full agreement. It should nor he possible for any for- eign government to issue instruc- tions to its sea fleet to interrupt the United States mail, on any pre- text, without vigorous protest from Washington and firm insistence upon the prompt withdrawal of such an order. President Wilson took a splendid position as the "spokesman of hu- manity" in the Lusitania tragedy and (trough t Germany to realize that, whatever her necessities, she could not sacrifice the lives of Amer- icans to accomplish her purpose. In the more recent cases of the Ancona this government, with the same vigor and determination, has pressed home to Austria our firm intention not to tolerate such out- rages upon our citizens. The principle of humanity upon which our protest against Ger- many's submarine campaign was based lies also at the very heart of the question involved in the sus- pension of thi' parcel post service to Germany and Austria. It should be understood that our government is not merely abandoning property when it allows this service to be withdrawn. What is property to us is life to the women and chil- dren of the two embattled nations thus abruptly cut off from commu- nication with us. The interrupted trade may mean starvation and death to many of them; it certainly means more acute and lasting dis- tress than otherwise thev would be called upon to endure. Torpe- doing vessels on the high seas when carrying innocent women and chil- dren staggers humanity, but is it not equally atrocious to starve wo- men and children in their homes by shutting off the only remaining channel by which they can secure foodstuffs? At this time of year it is the practice o( thousands of our people to send their tributes of love and MAIL SEIZURES 151 helpfulness to fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters — even friends less fortunately placed abroad. This year, because of the critical food conditions in Germany and Austria, that holiday boxes ready to go by parcels post, but now held up, were more than tokens of affection; they meant life itself, in many instances, to the thousands of families that are playing martyr roles at home, though they have no part in the war. These Christmas boxes or other packages of help from America can- not go on their merciful errand unless this government insists upon the unrestricted carrying across the seas of every package bearing its stamp. Our present official attitude is not only against insisting upon this sovereign right, but actually abandons it. Our great, big national heart, generous and humane at all times, even to a foe, seems suddenly to have ceased responding to its true instincts — at least so far as our government is concerned. In Cuba, back in 1898, when our army surrounded Santiago, we asked that non-combatants be sent out of the city before our guns be- gan their bombardment. For two weeks before the surrender of the Spaniards our commissary fed the starving women and children. Our own army had none too much for its own needs at the time, yet we gallantly spared enough of our stores to relieve the hunger of an enemy population. « The women and children of Ger- many and Austria are not our ene- mies. They have many ties that link them closely to us. Yet, un- like its course toward the women and children of besieged Santiago, our government seems willing, at the behest of a steamship company, to abandon a service it has so far during the war rendered the people of these two nations. "In the name of humanity" our government forced Spain to take its oppressive hand off Cuba. "In the name of humanity" our govern- men forced Germany to abandon its submarine menace to American life. The President has emphatically and in explicit terms declared his unalterable determination to stand as a champion of international law. For what reason, and in what cause, does a government with such a rec- ord now say to its citizens that they can no longer use its postal facilities to succor relatives and friends in distress? — November 20, 1915. RESTORE THE PARCEL POST It is not surprising that the Hun- garian-American Federation at its tenth annual convention held in Pittsburgh last Thursday should have asked President Wilson to give them cause for thanksgiving by ordering the resumption of the parcels post service to Austria-Hungary. The government's order suspend- ing this service two weeks ago came no doubt as a shock to the members of this organization. Most of them had prepared their usual Christmas box for the folks, little and big, back in their native country, and it is no stretch of imagination for one to sense the feeling of pride with which this year they were hurrying forward their messages of help and good cheer from this land of peace 152 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS and opportunity. Did they not hoar glad voices back at homo crying joyously as they unpacked the clothes and food. "This is what America docs for us ! This is what our boy over there is able to save and send us out of his wages! The land ol peace — the land of plenty — what a heaven it must be !" We may be sure. too. that the - ;ie in the family home when the boxes would be opened was pic- tured in the minds of the men and women more colorful and affecting than the brush of any artisl ever painted. Those of us who are now plan- ning to send our Christmas boxes of parcels post to relatives and friends can measure in some degree the bitter disappointment o( those Americans of Hungarian birth when they read the post-office announce- ment that their boxes would not be carried. They have now asked that the order be rescinded during holi- day times, and — if needs be — put in force with the new year. There is hardly enough military advantage to England in stopping these Christ- mas tokens to justify a refusal of such a request by our government — if request it must be. As a mat- ter of fact, the Washington author- ities never should have suspended any feature of our mail service for any reason. They should have in- sisted upon carrying our post to any land we care to. However, since insistence upon our rights is not the policy pursued at Washing- ton toward England's sea-lordship, perhaps the Hungarian-American appeal may result in a request from our government that we be per- mitted to send the holiday packages on their beneficent mission. — No- vember 27 1915. FREEDOM OF THE MAILS England has had a series of new and wonderful explanations of her seizure and examination of Dutch mail for the United States. First, she said that she seized only such mail as ships voluntarily brought into English territorial waters: that is. three miles from the English roast. It was soon pointed (mi that no Dutch vessel could go through the English Channel with- out entering British territorial waters. British mine fields are so laid as to force the Holland-Ameri- ca line \essels to enter the British waters, and there his majesty's eruiscr> sei e and examine them on the ground that they are lawfully subjected to his majesty's sov- ereignty. This first falsehood being nailed, the British government said that Dutch vessels did not have to come through the English Channel any- wav. -They could go through the North Sea, around the north end of England and so on to destination. The implication is that Dutch steam- ers could thus avoid coming into British waters and so avoid seizure. Nothing is further from the truth. On November '3. 1914. the British government declared that the free North Sea had been sown with Brit- ish mines. The admiralty declared that the only safe course for Ameri- can vess< - en route to Scandinavia was to follow the east coast of Eng- land almost to its northern ex- tremity, from which a safe course to Norway could be laid. This means that England has sown floating mines in the main body of the North Sea and the only safe passage is through British territorial waters off the east coast. MAIL SEJZCKKH 153 Therefore the course suggested by his majesty's government to the Dutch ships would assure them the same seizure which they enjoy to- day. .We await with interest the next British move. — February 26, 1916. RIFLING THE MAILS Privacy of commercial and per- sonal life, in international affair?, is destroyed. Xo longer can an American write to a business firm, a sister or a son, in Europe without having his letters opened for the inspection of the British censor. All useful business information in the letters is transmitted to the British Board of Trade for the use of rival British merchants. There are no more American trade secre There is no personal element in correspondence any longer free from the impertinent gaze of the attendant of the Mistress of the Seas. On her depends whether messages of anxiety, love, hope, death itself, may pass between America and the countries of Europe. Your notice of father's death, your anxiety for some rela- tive in the war zone may be judged a coded letter and so destroyed. This week the last open route for correspondence was closed, .the steamship line to Scandinavia. For a long time letters to and from Holland have been taken off in England, opened, delayed two weeks, thence forwarded if the British approved of them. The British excuse was that these letters were not captured on the high seas. Such capture they admitted to be forbidden by The Hague and Ge- neva conventions regarding the in- violability of the mail. The Dutch mail, the British said, was taken from vessels which voluntarily came into British territorial waters, and hence wexe subject to British laws and interference. But his majesty's government omitted to state that the Dutch liners went into British territorial waters be- cause British mine fields, illegally laid on the high seas, forced the Dutch steamers to take the safe course pointed out to them by the British admiralty, a course that led them along the British coast and so into British territorial waters. There they were seized. But still a way lay open for us. The whole ocean north of England could not be mined so as to force Scandinavian steamers to call at a Scottish port. That was too great a task. Scandinavian liners had to be met by British patrol boat3 as they passed north of the British Isles and brought into Kirkwall. Because their mail was captured on the high seas, Great Britain con- tented herself with removing the parcel post; the letters were left in- violate. We still had this route open by which we could correspond with Norway, Sweden, Denmark, fiormany, Holland and Switzerland. We can do so no more. This week two Scandinavian liners, the Hellig Olav and the Frederick VIII. , have been taken into Kirk- wall and both parcel post and let- ters removed. The vessels proceed; the correspondence will follow at a later date, in so far as his maj- esty's government approves of it. This week we have received from Britain an answer to our protest against her seizure of f]rst-clas3 mail. She defends such seizures whenever and wherever made. Little Sweden is preparing to do l.M THE liKAYKST ;U»G PAYS more than protest. What will America, the master o( its destiny, do? Is international law itself to ho under the control ami protection o( the peaceful neutral nations of thle world: Or is it to ho an- nihilated hv this vampire o( the soas.— .1 /»/■('; 5, 1916, MAILS ON THE HIGH SEAS Vnv wo have road the American note t>^ England on mail seizures and it is time to soo what wo have really said. What wo have really said is important, because it deter- mines the status o( postal corre- spondence in this and. perhaps, in future wars. Moreover, the tone and import o( this note indicate what the nature o( our blockade protesi to England is likely to ho. and so give us a clew to the prohahle course -if not the outcome ^( our entire controversy with England. We agree with Britain's principle o( treating parcel post liko mer- chandise, and rightly. There is no international law that protects par- cel post from examination. However, wo indicate that England's righl to stop parcel post for Germany is lim- ited to her righl to stop merchan- dise: namely, the right to stop the passage o( contraband goods, no others. The final settlement of the extent to which England may con- fiscate our parcel post to the central powers will, therefore, wait on the settlement o( our "blockade" con- troversy regarding merchandise. The present issuo is with regard to the assumed right to open, soize and destroy our first-class mail nun ing on the high soas. Our rights are sot forth in the universally a©- ooptod Convention 11. Article I.. signed at The Hague, October 18, 1907. It roads: 'riu> postal correspondence of centrals or belligerents, whatever its official ox private character may be, found on the high sons on board a neutral or enemy ship, is inviolable. If the ship is de- tained the correspondence is forwarded by (ho captor with the leasl possible delay. Inviolable moans "not to ho. opened." Mail is violated when you break the seal that protects its private character. A sealed Letter is a secret. When the Beal is broken so is the secret. In our nolo wo point out that during our civil war. as in the Boer, Franco-Prussian and Russo-Japanese wars, mail-bags on captured Bteamers were forwarded unopened. \oio the now construction which Britain puts upon the word "invio- lable." In her note to us. dated February 15, 1916, she said : 2. That the inviolability of postal correspondence stipulated by the eleventh convention oi The Hague of \W1 does not in any way affect the righl of the allied governments to visit and. if occa- sion arise, arrest and seiie merchandise hidden in the wrappers, envelopes or let- ters contained in the mail-bags. 3. That, true to their engagements, and respectful of genuine "correspond- ence," the allied governments will con- tinue, for the present, to refrain on the high soas from seising and confiscating such correspondence, lot tors or dispatch- es, and will insure their speediest pos- sible transmission as soon as the sincerity of their character shall have been ascer- tained. That is. "inviolable" no Longer moans "not to ho opened," for Brit- ain says The Hague convention does not prevent her from visit, arrest and seizure o( merchandise hidden in envelopes and lot tors. But no one can visit merchandise in a lot- tor without opening the lot tor. The assumed right to search for mer- MAIL SEIZURES L55 chandise in letters results in fcjie in- evitable violation of the mails as the term violation has ;il wuys been understood. When this Eague convention was framed the possibility was in mind thai small driblets of merchandise might, Leah through in first-class mail-bags. But this insignificant im- pairment of the right of a dominant sea power was subordinated to the superior right of international com munication not to be censored, es purgated or suppressed. And this immunity of firs! class mail from being opened was supposed to be secured by a .-'ileinii international treaty. En '•\c\-y treaty there is a weighing of interests and a decision l>et ween i.iiein. in i his I labile con- vention regarding mails the decision was against the belligerent and in favor of the neul ral. Britain, as a belligerent, now constitutes herself judge and reverses the decision. As reference to the quoted para- graph ('■'•) of the British note shows, Britain did not agree ao1 to search firsl class mad found on the high eas. She merely agreed to for- ward BUCh portion:-; of that mail as were found to he "genuine corre jpondence/ 5 But not. even this in- sufficient promise has been kept. Letters, rare documents, fire insur- ance claims, Dnited Stales paten for invent ions have been lost or de- stroyed in British hand-. And the Lni ish claim is that. I hi- is not, con- trary to their promise (3) in the February note. They there agreed not, to seize and confiscate genuine correspondence found "on the high Bui British agents take off thifi mail while the -hip is in a British port whether conducted or frightened into it ami bo, the Brit- ish claim, in t heir territorial wale where they can exercise more "rights" than on the bigh sea All this we point out. in our note. We denounce the illegal jurisdiction assumed hy England over vessel forced t.o call in her port-, and we demand that she exercise over them no more than the, rights she may reise over them on the bigh sei But we do not, dispute Britain delinit ion of the immunity she will grant mail intercepted on the high iea . namely, that, she will open and '•.irch it,, hut, forward it, all prompt ly. That is, we accept, the British view that the inviolability of the mails is not infringed if they are sent, on after being violated. If England will only forward promptly the letters she tia canned we shall apparently he satisfied. Other pa in our note con- firm this impression. We specifi- cally admit, i he right to Bearch let- ters for arl icles of contraband, and for stocks, bonds, coupons, draffs, checks, nole-, money orders all of which we admit, to he contraband. No letter hear- on its outside the evidence of containing a money or- der. So every letter may he searched. There will he no serious contro- versy with England. She will mod- ify her procedure and promptly for- ward letters Which She has opened, nned and noted in contravention of- international prad ice and :i ol emu treaty, The Hague convention of I !)<)?. ' Privacy of intellectual, ial and commercial life hefween nation:- i- gone. The po-lal corre- spondence section of The I [ague con- vention i- dead, and wi ! at its burial. It is a lit lie -;ul to conl rast the part we are playing with the part we could play iu international af- fair- It i- a strange role for the 1 56 THE GRAVEST 366 PAYS world power which unhesitatingly assumes the championing of the rights of the neutral world. — May 30, 1916. INSPECTING OUR MAILS li seems a potty thine for Croat Britain to insist upon this "right" to open lot tors seized upon the high seas. She will continue this pro- lure, for in our recent protest we admit the British claim of a "right" to open all letters io and from us. We admit this by implication, for wo admit the right to search our first-class mail for contraband, in which wo include checks and money orders. Our admission of this right of Great Britain moans, of course, our acquiescence in the abolition of Hague Convention 11, Article 1. which provides that postal commu- nications on the high soas is invio- lable, moaning "not to bo opened." Wo shall bo satisfied if the British Post Office Department forwards our mail after it has boon opened and expurgated of the taint of "contra- band. " What is the real advantage which Britain derives from this obnoxious violation of the law of nations: No sane person believes that Croat Brit- ain really fears that Germany will bo provisioned or munitioned by articles sent in first-class mail bags. The amount of broad or bullets or copper on which first-class postage could bo paid would in any case be so infinitesimal as to have no pos- sible influence on the military cam- paigns. Can there be any other ob- ject in opening and scanning all our correspondence? If we did not have good evidence, we should hesitate to accuse the British government of using its inspection of our business letters for the purpose o( getting the business secrets of American mer- chants dealing with the continent. Unfortunately only too much evi- dence o( this kind is at hand. We have been clamoring to have American banks established in South America because we did not want the shipping documents (including invoices) of American exporters to pass through the hands of foreign bankers in Bio or Buenos Ayres m the process o( collecting the drafts to which these documents are at- tached. Experience shows that in- formation thus collected as to our business connections and terms is transmitted to our competitors in the foreign bank's home country. To-day, while we urge our banks to establish South American branches to free our citizens from the espi- onage of foreign banks, we accede to the act oi a foreign government in abrogating a solemn treaty, in open- ing and inspecting all our business correspondence and documents. Brit- ish censors then make for the Board of Trade a permanent record of all the facts of our private business re- lations. Bead the instructions to British censors handling this corre- spondence : 11. Statistic?. (11 Particulars are to be exacted from appropriate corre- spondence and submitted on index cards of all direct shipments to Europe (i. e., shipments from neutral to neutral, in- cluding shipments on through bills of lading), whether actual or pending, of the following commodities, viz. : Cocoa. cotton, cotton yarn, waste and thread; fuel oils and lubricating oils : hides. skins and leather : maize : metals and ores of all kinds ; nitrates : oil. cakes, including poonac : packers' products (meat, bacon, lard, jus, oleo. or any MAIL SEIZURES 15? edible animal fut.H) ; ronin ; tanning ex- tracts ; wool and nueh other articlet c* may be added from time to time. Up to Itic present the British have been not only scanning hut. also de- stroying th': business correspondence of Americana who have competitor in England. Mr. Lansing in his note giv< - an instance : Business opportunities we lost hy failure to transmit promptly bid , sped Scatiom and contra* The Standard Underground Cable Company of Pittsburgh, for example, •ent by mail ■■> tender and specification! for '-'Ttiiiri proposed electrical work- to be constructed in Christiania. After several weekn of waiting the papers have failed to arrive. The American com pany was told that bids could sot be longer held open, and the contract was awarded to a I'rit.ish competitor. If Britain now at to our pro- test, as is likely, she will forward our future bids and specifications after carefully noting and tabulating them on cards to be filed at the Board of Trade. Does any one imagine that this data will not be available for British exporters? In the future the Standard Under- ground Cable Company will, to be sure, have its bid forwarded and not destroyed. But common sense pre- dicts that the next bid of the Stand- ard Underground Cable Company will be sent on to Christiania in the same mail bag with a British bid a few hundred dollars lower. From whatever angle dewed, our abandonment of the historic position that "inviolability" means "not. to be opened" is a calamity for the coun- try and for the cause of international law. International law comes out of each war as strong as the insistence of the strongest neutral. What are we doing to build up or tear down that law?— May 31, 1910. WEASEL WORDED PROTESTS Mail seizures go merrily on. Great Britain opens all our fii mail, onr letter correspondence with Ger- many a/id with all neutral count: of Europe. Mail is taken off neutral »hip€ in far eastern waters, and if a picion i that a German sym- pathizer is related to writer or ad- dressee the letters are- destroyed. The Spanish steamer Eizagimre, en route from Spain to Manila, has just been stopped at Singapore. She had 101 jacks of Manila mail opened and censored. That is, British of- ficials read it all and forwarded such of it as the idered proper reading for American- in the PhiUp- pini Travelers returning from Great Britain on neutral steamships carry- ing between u- and Europe are now reporting that the British post office department no longer take- all our mail sacks to London for examina- tion. Some of them are -imply dumped into the sea. It is probably because the mail examiners at Lon- don are overburdened. For tl must not only look through the mail for military -ecrets. They must also copy on index cards, for trans- mission to the British Board of Trade, the details concerning our business letters. These are the of- ficial instructions of the British een- ■ -ported in this year's Con- greseionai Record, page 18.08. These index cards, appropriately filed, are a rare collection of what used to be America's business secrets. It will be a valuable aid, and is a valuable aid to-day to the British export trade. But there is no use complaining. We have officially acceded to the abrogation of the principle of the 158 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS inviolability of the mails. Having agreed that our letters may all be opened and scanned, we cannot com- plain if novel uses, are made of the material therein. Nor can we logi- cally say much about destroying let- ters. For if Great Britain may search them, is that not evidence that they may contain something unlawful? And who is to be judge of what is unlawful, if it is not the censor persons whom we allow to search them? Then, if they con- tain wickedness, shall they not perish ? As already repeatedly dem- onstrated in the strange American diplomacy of this war, we put our- selves in an impossible position for an independent nation, and then re- pine at the necessity of drawing the inevitable conclusions from our own acts. The inviolability, of the mails was , supposed to be secured by Conven- tion 11, Article 1, signed at The Hague October 18, 1907. Inviola- bility of the mails meant that they could not be opened. Previous to this war no belligerent has dared to open mail sacks with first class mail, sealed by one government and in transit to another. The Hague Con- vention reads, or used to read : The postal correspondence of neutrals, or belligerents, whatever its official or private character may be, found on the high seas on board a neutral or enemy ship, is inviolable. If the ship is de- tained the correspondence is forwarded by the captor with the least possible delay. On February 15, 1916, Great Britain denounced this Hague con- vention. She did it by claiming the right to open this correspondence to search for merchandise en route to Germany. The British February 15 note read: ■ 2. That the inviolability of postal cor- respondence stipulated by the eleventh convention of The Hague of 1907 does not in any way affect the right of the al- lied governments to visit, and if occasion arises, arrest and seize merchandise hid- den in the wrappers, envelopes or letters contained in the mail bags. 3. That, true to their engagements, and respectful of genuine "correspond- ence," the allied governments will con- tinue, for the present, to refrain on the high sas from seizing and confiscating such correspondence, letters or dis- patches, and will insure their speediest possible transmission as soon as the sincerity of their character shall have been ascertained. Great Britain's excuse for this ac- tion is that she found certain small consignments of raw rubber in first class mail sacks moving on the seas from Brazil to Rotterdam. There- fore she claims the right to open let- ters seized on the high seas of all the world. Nobody knows whether bona- fide shippers attempted the crazy and uneconomic operation of paying first class postage on rubber into Germany, or whether the rubber was shipped by British agents for the purpose of providing the excuse. In any case, the driblets of rub- ber or any other commodity that could stand the international first class postage rate would be infini- tesimal. The possibility of such tiny shipments was before the minds of the framers of The- Hague conven- tion, but was rejected as of no weight compared with the ancient principle of the inviolability of let- ter mail bags. Yet we admit the novel contention of Great Britain as sufficient to subvert an ancient prin- ciple of law. Secretary Lansing wrote to Great Britain on May 24, 1916, that our government does not admit that belligerents may search other private sea-borne mails for any other purpose than to discover MAIL SEIZTJKES 159 whether they contain articles of enemy ownership carried on oelligerent vessels or articles of contraband transmitted under sealed covers as letter mail. Not only may Great Britain open bulky first class mail to search for rubber or steel, but may open letters to search for papers. Therefore the thinnest letter may be opened. We go on to say: The government of the United States is inclined to the opinion that the class of mail matter which includes stocks, bonds, coupons and similar securities is to be regarded as of the same nature as merchandise or other articles of prop- erty and subject to the same exercise of belligerent rights. Money orders, checks, drafts, notes and other negotiable instru- ments which may pass as the equiva- lent of money are, it is considered, also to be classed as merchandise. Our complaint is not that letters are opened and scanned, but that they are not promptly forwarded al- ways after the violation has been per- petrated ! We say : Delays in receiving shipping docu- ments have caused great loss and incon- venience by preventing prompt delivery of goods. * * * Business opportuni- ties are lost by failure to transmit promptly bids, specifications, contracts. Checks, drafts, money orders, securities and similar property are lost or detained for weeks and months. That is, our complaint is not as to the violation of the mails, but as to their prompt forwarding after the act is done. What does all this mean? How can we set about to retrieve Ameri- can rights? Here, as in the matter of the British blockade, and the trading-with-the-enemy act, we long ago gave our rights away. Having abandoned the principle, on what ground can we oppose the ramifica- tions which logically 'flow from that abandonment? — July 22, 1916. RESULT OF WEASEL WORDS Our State department wrote what people thought was a protest against the British mail censorship. There was general public applause. After months of delay Great Britain re- plies, summing up her answer as fol- lows: The specific complaints do not sup- port the general charge against the effi- ciency of the British censorship. * * * His majesty's government will always be ready to explain in detail the work- ing of the censorship, as there is nothing regarding it which they wish to conceal. Britain is right. There is no mis- understanding. We did not protest against mail seizures at all. Our weasel-worded protest, on careful reading, resolves itself into a polite request to please be quick and not cause any unnecessary delays to those letters that the mail censor deigns to pass. By inference we accept Great Britain's mail censorship. With one note we break down all previous tenets and international conventions that made mail matter inviolable. — July 24, 1916. BLOCKADING THE NEWS A striking thing is an editorial in the New York World commenting on the manner in which the British censor destroys information sent to this country by American newspaper correspondents in Germany. The World says: Since no military purpose can be served by such methods, the conclusion must be that Great Britain is intent upon deceiving the world outside of the war zone as to conditions existing there- in. To this extent, therefore, its censor- ship exhibits hostility toward neutrals without inflicting damage upon the enemy. The situation in Germany is not changed by the mutilation or de- 160 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS struction of messages giving an account of it. * * * There must be some reason for this policy. Perhaps American money lend- ers and merchandisers, extending vast lines of credit to the allies, mostly in the dark, will be disposed to inquire as to its real purpose. In the spring of 1915 our papers carried daily reports that the Dar- danelles were to fall. As a result the price of our wheat went down, because of the prospect of unlocking the Russian wheat supply, waiting in the Black Sea. Long after it was known in England that the Dar- danelles could not be taken, the same misleading news kept coming to us and British merchants and authori- ties kept buying the wheat of Ameri- can fanners at ten cents a bushel be- low its value. In the fall of 1915, commission- ers of the British and French gov- ernments came to this country to negotiate a loan for $500,000,000. By a strange coincidence a British drive was instituted on the west front, and the news of its success shared the news columns with de- tails of the loan negotiations. Not until the loan was consummated did we learn — what the British military authorities knew from the beginning — that the drive was a costly failure. Recently we have loaned $100,- 000,000 to France, $50,000,000 to Russia, and a further credit for England is pending. These finan- cial operations also seem to have coincided with the allied drive upon the east and west fronts. The Brit- ish censor ought not to call into question the soundness of his coun- try^ position by suppressing all but twenty-one of the seventy-two dis- patches to the World from Germany by Mr. von Wiegand, its correspon- dent in Germany. The British cen- sor ought not to drive American newspaper correspondents at Berlin to petition Ambassador Page for re- lief from a practice which prevents them from getting to this country news of the military situation abroad. Those who seek banking and mercantile credit should be held to reveal and not suppress the facts up- on which their request must be judged. — August 5, 1916. "EXPLAINING" MAIL SEIZURES Our helpless state is again brought to our attention and to that of the civilized world by the latest "state- ment of the British Foreign Office," which "explains'''' the "delay" of our mails on the high seas. The State department must be immense- ly nattered to find that the British government no longer troubles to answer it officially. Instead, the British Foreign Office issues a "state- ment" to the American press and our mail seizures protest goes official- ly unregarded. It is not the first time. Great Britain's favorite procedure during the discussion of her seizures of our meat ships to Scandinavia was to issue press statements in London. They reached American opinion as thoroughly as an official note, and, as they were merely press state- ments, they did not have to adhere to the facts. They could include all manner of insinuations against American shippers, insinuations wholly without fact and incapable of insertion in a formal note. The press statements could even demon- strate that the State department was out. of its mind to make the protests it did make. MAIL SEIZURES 161 So with the blacklist. The only formal answer to our protest has been the sending of a supplemental list containing thirteen additional American names. The discussion of our note has been through inter- views which Lord Robert Cecil gives to American correspondents in Lon- don. Lord Robert seeks to make us ashamed of ourselves. If we are not properly ashamed but still vexed, the final official note can make some un- important concession which the ad- ministration can compare with Lord Robert's big talk and claim a vic- tory, Cecil feels us out. The present official "statement" is so very reasonable. It says that coffee, rubber and jewelry have been found in our first-class mail bags for Scandinavia, supposed to contain only correspondence. Bags ostensi- bly containing innocent newspapers carry German propaganda. There- fore all our mail bags for neutral countries must be taken to London, opened and searched. "Innocent" correspondence is forwarded on with as little delay as possible. But what is innocent? It seems that an American bid for a contract in Sweden is not innocent and is de- layed until a British firm can get in and get the order. Read the in- stance that Mr. Lansing gave in his note to England last May : Business opportunities are lost by failure to transmit promptly bids, speci- fications and contracts. The Standard Underground Cable Company of Pittsburgh, for example, sent by mail a tender and specifications for certain proposed electrical works to be constructed in Christiania. After several weeks of waiting the papers have failed to arrive. The American com- pany was told that bids could no longer be held open and the contract was awarded to a British competitor. This situation is not an isolated one. American firms find their busi- ness over all the world censored by the British mail officials. Letters to Hong Kong never arrive. Traders with Russia report that they cannot get either their business cables or business letters through. Norwegian papers report whole strings of let- ters being picked up on the Norwe- gian coast, apparently dumped in the sea by the overworked censor. What is the law? It is simple and clear. The whole world under- stood it. The law was that first- class mail on the high seas was "in- violable," could not be opened. The principle was thus stated in a Hague convention of 1907 : The postal correspondence of neutrals or belligerents, whatever its official or private character may be, found on the high seas on board a neutral or enemy ship, is inviolable. If the ship is de- tained, the correspondence is forwarded by the captor with the least possible delay. In practice this provision of in- ternational law has always meant that first-class mail bags, even if round on captured enemy ships, were not to be opened, but immediately forwarded to destination. So it was in the Spanish-American and Russo- Japanese wars. The Eitel Fried- rich, when she interned here in 1915, delivered to our postal authorities, inviolate, the mail bags she had cap- tured from enemy ships. Great Britain began opening first- class mail taken from neutral (Dutch) ships and claimed she found in them rubber en route from Brazil to Rotterdam, hence to Ger- many. Of course when The Hague convention was framed every one knew that little consignments of contraband might be moved in let- ter bags. But the amount of con- 162 THE GBAVEST 3lU> DAYS traband thai could stand first-class postage is infinitesimal compared with the sacred rights of letter cor- respondence. The British took first-class mail bags off neutral steamers plying be- tween neutral countries and opened all the letters. For they claimed that even money orders or securities were contraband. The thinnest let- ter might contain a money order. What did the Tinted Slates do? Stand tor the body of international law? We made a protest which, when examined, proves an admission of every British contention. Mr. Lansing said in May that our gov- ernment does not admit that belligerents may search other private sea-borne mails for mill other purpose than to discover whether they contain articles of enemy ownership carried on belligerent vessels or articles of contraband transmitted under sealed covers as letter mail. That is. Great Britain may search private sea-borne mails for these articles. It may also search for money orders and so open every let- ter: The government of the United States is inclined to the opinion that the class of mail matter which includes stocks, bonds, coupons and similar securities is to he regarded as of the same nature as merchandise or other articles oi property and subject to the same exercise of belligerent rights. Money orders, checks. drafts, notes and other negotiable instru- ments which may pass as the equivalent of monej are. it is considered, also to be classed as merchandise. Our only complaint was that the violated mails were not forwarded promptly after violation. The latest British statement explains that the expurgated remainder of our mails is being Eorwarded as rapidly as is convenient. Having admitted the new "right" that Britain may open all our let- ters, what do we expect? Of course the information will be tabulated and sent to the British Board of Trade. Of course the Standard Underground Cable Company and a hundred others will lose contracts to British competitors. Of course Rus- sian trade will be hampered in all possible ways. One of the main aims of Great Britain is to hold on to her pre-war trade. What better means is there than the one we offer : the right to expurgate or control the correspondence on which our trade is based? As in the case of the blockade and the blacklist, so with mails. I do not care to protect any American rights; let us abrogate them all. But in the name of truth let us not un- derhandedly abrogate what we loud- lv and hypocritically claim to pro- tect— August 1G, 1916. FAIR PLAY! So much attention has been paid to the commercial aspect of this British expurgation of international mails that its human side is neg- lected. To be sure, our business houses suffer, but what of our citi- zens? Their losses cannot be meas- ured in dollars and cents; they are rather registered in anguish of the mind and siekness of heart. We have several millions of Amer- ican citizens born in the central powers or descended from parents born there. Are these citizens to be without rights? These citizens are bound by the closest ties of kinship and love to fathers, mothers, brothers, cousins on the other side of the ocean. The MAIL SEIZUKKS 163 central powers are engaged in a devastating war; perhaps the fathers and brothers are dead. How can we find out? Not by letters, for Great Britain makes no promise, no pretense regm-ding the forwarding of mail to Germany. There are families here who have not heard for many months from relatives in Germany or Austria. Consider their distress. Perhaps both father and brother are fallen and a stricken mother needs support. Can the son here, an American citizen, send her a money order issued by the United States postofnce? Oh, no, he can- not. The .State department has ac- cepted Great Britain's unheard-of contention that a money order is contraband of war. Therefore all letter mail may be opened, to look for these tainted slips. Money or- ders and letters may be thrown into the sea. The mother may go beg- ging or to the poorhouse for all the protection that the American citi- zen's government will give to its own postal orders. She may die without one word from her son for all the protection his government will give to letter correspondence solemnly designated as "inviolable" by a Hague convention. The rule seems to be that your rights are not according to your citi- zenship, but according to your de- scent. The British-blooded Ameri- can citizen, by the threat of war, has upheld for him the last full measure of right to ship ammuni- tion to the country of his birth. No one can object to that. It is the law. But the German-blooded citi- * zen is not accorded even the poor right to correspond with the loved ones in the home of his childhood, to soothe their and his anguish and bitterness of soul. The time is coming when a judg- ment will be passed upon this ad- ministration by the American sense of fair play, decency, national honor. —August 18, 1916. JACK In New York is a chauffeur with a wife and baby in Hungary. He is an American, bom in New York. His wife is a New York girl, edu- cated in the public schools. Her parents live in a village on the Hun- garian plain. When the war broke out she and the baby were visiting them. In spite of the dangers of travel, Jack wants them back in America, now that life is hard over there. He cannot get money to them. Our government has admitted money orders to be contraband of war. He cannot communicate with them. In four months the British censor has let no word from her cross the ocean. Jack is a very wretched man. Dur- ing the day it is not so bad, but at night he cannot sleep for the visions that come to him. He does not know whether they are alive or dead. He thinks, perhaps, it is not the censor. Perhaps they will never write again. But her people cannot even send him word of that. He feels bitter at the government that will not protect his messages to his wife and baby nor help him hear from them. lie feels bitter at a government that will not allow him to help them. For, after all, are they not Americans, too, just, like all of us? They are all he has in the whole world. — August ]'■>. 1916. 164 THE GRAVEST 866 DAYS BY LEAVE OF ENGLAND" By minim;- the British channel and Leaving only a narrow strip open along the shore the British force all traffic along (hat highway ol' the Bea into one narrow path which they control. Bui the path of safety has been made one o( shame and humiliation. Within the three-mile limit over which a nation has jurisdiction the British treat the passengers and the crews o\' all vessels as if they were enemies or suspects on British Boil. American citizens, men ami women, houml to or from Ameriea on neutral or Brit- ish ships are Searched as if they were criminals. No one is above suspicion. Of course, a vessel can go around by the Orkneys. Bui the trip is very much Longer and the cosl o( the trip so mneh Larger as to he prohibitive. So, in the narrow channel available for the world's traffic, British warships hold up the shipping o( the world, and seize, inspect or destroy mail eoiumuni- eations between the United States and the Scandinavian countries, on the ground that it may be hound to or from (iermany. Now. there are millions o( Amer- ican citizens who are hound to Ger- many by origin, kinship or business interests having nothing whatever to o\o with the war. Those Ameri- can citizens cannot communicate with their civilian friends in Ger- many, excepl under the eye of the British censor, just as the friends o( a prisoner eannot communicate with that prisoner except under the eye ol' a turnkey. Domestic atl'airs o\' American citizens, business so- t-rets o( American citizens, innocent missives o( every sort belonging to American citizens, are equally suh- ject to British official scrutiny. To those millions o\' American citizens, in no way involved in the war or its outcome, is denied the "leave o\' England." The British Blacklist "BY LEAVE OF ENGLAND" From far ofl China comes the news ihiii the American representa- tives of the New 5Tork house of Alfred Richter, of 59 Pearl Street, arc not permitted to ship goods Prom (minese ports on Japanese vessels to American business men iii Ameri can ports because Mr. Bidder's name suggests that he is of Germanic origin. 1 f happens that M r. Richter has been an American citizen twenty years and a New York merchant nearly all that time. He has agents at Hong Cong, Canton, Shanghai and Tientsin, but because of his name the British government, through its consuls, blacklists liim. At Tientsin curios and carpets consigned to the Japanese Pan Com- pany and Messrs. Bollenstein & Thompson, both of New York, were held up, too, by order of I he British authorities until proof was forth- coming that they had not been bought from German, Austrian or Turkish subjects or were shipped in the interest of such a subject. Europe is closed to American mer- chants except for munitions and foodstuffs for the aid of fJreat Brit- ain and her allies. And now the ban includes Asia. Only Africa jind South America remain for American merchants to do business with "by leave of England." — January 25, 191G. THE BLACK HAND The putting of American firms upon a blacklist is a perfectly logi- cal, even if lawless, thing to do. It. is a logical outcome of a condition which, by our inaction, we have allowed to become almost legalized, namely, the British blockade. If Great Britain is maintaining a law- ful blockade of Germany, then the great mass of our people will not see the injustice and illegality of Great Britain in boycotting Ameri- can firms who try to circumvent the blockade and deal with Germany either in goods, money or credits. To be sure, the government al, Washington has declared the Brit- ish blockade lawless and indefensi- ble. We said that on March 80, l!M. r ). \Ve said it, again October 31, 1-915. But we have never supported one single shipper in bis attempt to exercise the right— which we diplo- matically proclaimed that he had — to ship to Germany any goods but contraband of war. Wo stood by and saw the meat packers forced to sign an agreement with the British government that they would cease trying to trade with Germany and submit, even their shipments to neu- tral countries to the direction of the British admiralty. We stood by and saw Standard Oil \'<>vc<'(\ to sign a similar contract. The State de- partment has maintained two for- eign trade advisers whose function has been to transmit to American exporters, from the British ambas- sador at Washington, information as to how these American exporters can send shipments to Kuropoan neutral countries without incurring 166 THE (IK* .WEST 366 DAYS suspicion that the shipments are des- tined to be forwarded to Germany. Well, then, the British govern- ment decides to punish, by blacklist- ing, the wicked American bankers and exporters who have been offend- ing against a lawless British meas- ure, against which our State depart- ment protests but which our State department helps to enforce. Who — including the British government — can fathom what we mean, if we mean anything? Theoretically, Great Britain is all wrong and violating a fundamental of international law. A firm incor- porated in the United States is an American citizen, no matter whose money is in the corporation. Ameri- can citizens are supposed to be pro- tected by our treaties with Great Britain in the enjoyment of un- abridged rights to trade. These rights are now withdrawn by Great Britain, who sets out to ruin Ameri- can citizens and corporations ac- cused of doing what their State department told them was lawful — trading with Germany. These men are to be ruined. No British ship will carry their goods nor will any neutral ship owner carry for them, lest the offending ship be detained in a British port ten days at a loss of $5,000 per day. The blacklisted firms cannot trade anywhere in the world. We are to protest again. That OUT protests will not avail is made certain by the indefensible position into which we have put ourselves. Having admitted so much as we have, we shall with difficulty save anything from the wreck of inter- national law. We shall not get much relief during this war, after the gratuitous declaration of the State department, attached as a "rider" to our last note to Germany, to the eifect that our controversy with Great Britain was not a press- ing one, but one for leisurely dis- cussion and arbitration, if agreement cannot be reached. As yet there is no sharp disagreement. Whatever we say by our words, by our actions we acquiesce in the whole British policy.— July 20, 1916. CUMULATIVE VETOING Why all this sudden clamor of protest against the British blockade? Neither in principle nor practice is it any deviation from the policy fol- lowed by Great Britain from the out- set of the war. In September, 1014, and again in October and December of the same year, Great Britain issued successive contraband lists — articles which she would seize if going to the central powers or to any suspicious person in countries of neutral Europe. Great Britain declared as contraband a host of articles which in all pre- vious wars have been on the free list. Finally, every important article of our exports was so banned, even cot- ton. This was blacklisting all American producers o[' such articles, including cotton — all American pro- ducers whose markets lay in central Europe. On March 11. 19] I, Great Britain issued an order in council saying she would seize all goods to and from Germany, whether on previous con- traband lists or not. No pretense was made, or is made, of maintain- ing a lawful blockade of Germany. This was simply blacklisting all Americans who made their living from distributing or manufacturing imports from Germany. Included in this number were American im- TIIK BRITISH BLACKLIST n;7 porters who were obligated to pay for goods that were to be manufac- tured in Germany. In the same way American manufacturers of type- writers, sewing and washing ma- chines, cash registers, agricultural implements, were blacklisted so far as concerned their markets in the central powers. In March L915, deprived of all' support of our Stale department our copper producers were forced to sign an agreement with the British ad- miralty to ship only to those con- signees in neutral European coun- tries who are approved by the ad- miralty. Hundreds of former cus- tomers of our copper exporters are on the British blacklist. The meat packers and Standard Oil Company have been driven to similar agree- ments with the admiralty, pledging themselves not to try to ship to Ger- many and submitting to the admir- alty's direction the quantity and consignees of their annual shipments to neutral Europe. Whoever would not join such combination- in re- straint of trade was blacklisted, for- bidden to ship at all. Having admitted the greater thing, why all this fuss ahout the lesser? We have silently seem abolished the protection which international law was supposed to give to the commerce of the neutrals in war time. We have sat by while whole countries that were our markets and sourci - of supply were eliminated. We have joined Great Britain in proclaiming the principle that all letters seized on the high seas may be opened and their business secrets tabulated, so long as the captor forwards on to destination such letters as he cares to pass. Why. then, all this discussion of a list of names of eighty blacklisted American firms, most of whom — so Ear as practice is concerned—state that they have long been on the blacklist? II' you may blacklist whole sections of the I rade of a coun- try, why may you not. blacklist the trade of its' individual citizens? — July 27, L916. THE REAL BLACKLIST The real British blacklist and its method of operation are not realized in this country at all. The real blackist is in the hands of British consuls in American ports! For fear of detention, no ship, British or neu- tral, will clear from an American port for any oversea destination un- til its manifest, or list of shipments, is officially approved by the British consul. It is therefore absolute arbi- trator of the commercial lives of American business men in the for- eign trade. That is why so many of those on the published blacklist ex- pressed no surprise. They have hcen blacklisted all along. British consuls in OUT own ports, the British censors of European cahle dispatches (which must, all pass through London) and the Brit- ish censors of American business let- ters stolen from sealed mad bags on the high seas — these are the agencies that have it. in their hands to de-troy what, American firms they choose, Who can trade if he cannot corre- spond, cable or ship? That is why Great Britain was un pardonably foolish in publishing that blacklist of eighty American firms, for she had already shut off hundreds and was able to shut off hundreds more, without exposing the weasel that -licked our golden eggs of war trade. Our acquiescence— through non- enforcement of our rights — in what 168 TI1K liHAYKST ;UU; PAYS wo call the lawless attempt to inter- cept our trade with Germany, was the great blunder, the father of this entire sot of disagreeable diplomatic children. Once tacitly admit the iniquity of trade to ami from tier- many ami we are in no logical posi- tion to combat British measures to suppress that trade, even though such measures ruin Ameriean firms ami submit to British suppression or dictation our commerce, cables ami correspondence with the entire neu- tral world.— July •:;. L916. HOLLOW ISSUES The blacklist is being "explained." Neither its explanation nor its modi- fication nor its withdrawal will aid shippers in this country, nor he any- thing hut a paper victory for the ad- ministration. If the administration won its present contentions with re- gard to the blacklist, as well as the mail seizures and the blockade, we should he in no palpable degree hot- ter off than we are to-day. The rea- son is that in regard to England we have either failed or refused to ask for essentials. The blacklist, to withdraw it is to cancel a published list of about eighty Ameriean firms. Withdraw that list and Great Britain could still prevent these people from ship- ping to any part of the world that Croat Britain ehose to bar. It has long so prevented many of these new blacklist names from shipping, and scores of other Americana as well. British ships will carry for no one disapproved by their government. Neutral ships, by long and expensive detentions in British harbors, have been taught to accept no Ameriean shipment not vised by a British con- sul at our ports. These British of- tieials have for over a year operated a blacklist of merchants in this coun- try and neutral Europe — a blacklist compared with which this published list is a trifle. Will our government order these British consuls to cease their dicta- torship of our foreign trade and so get at the root rather than the sur- face of the difficulty ? Will our State department then enforce the man- date of international law which for- bids Great Britain to stop and un- load any neutral ship unless there are found on hoard proofs that she earries contraband for Germany? Or does our State department care to enforce our asserted right to trade with Germany via adjacent neutrals, even though England maintains a lawful blockade of Germany, which our government denies: The administration has the chance to show whether it is in any way in earnest in its stand against Great Britain. By persistently choosing sham issues, whose settlement would settle nothing, the administration can demonstrate its insincerity in the whole matter. — July 88, 1916. THE PATHETIC NOTE IN DIPLOMACY The report may not be true that the Statue of Liberty cracked at the news of our protest to the British blacklist. Later and more trust- worthy advices favor the more pro- saic explanation that the cracking is connected with the New Jersey explosions. However that may he. this is the pathetic note in the history of all diplomacy. In breadth of failure or unwillingness to face the issuer the equal of this note has never been THE I'.I.'ITISII BLACKLIST 169 seen. There has never been such an attempt to omething and at the same; time to say nothing; to be vig- orous and at the same time docile. Secretary Lansing needs to be re- called at once from bis vacation. Bead these extracts from our pro- teat against an illegal measure that destroys the business of dozens of Americans and American firms and puts the entire contents and desti- nation of our foreign trade at the dictation of liis majesty's govern- ment. Tin; news of the blacklist has been received with the most painful surprise by the people and government of the United Btate , and seema to the government of the United Slates to em- body a policy of arbitrary interference with neutral trade against which it. is its duty to protest in the most decided terms. ******** The government of the United States begfl tO rem i nd the government, of his Britannic majesty that citizen- of the United State* are entirely within their rights in attempting to trade with the people or the government of any of the nations now at war, subject only to well- defined international practices and un- derstandings which the government of the United States deems the government of Great Britain to have too lightly and too frequently disregarded. ******** It is manifestly out of the question that the government of the United States should acquiesce in such methods and applications of punishment to it- citizens. ******** Whatever may be said with regard to the legality, in the view of international obligation, of the act Of Parliament upon whic/i the practice of the blacklist as now employed by his majesty's govern- ment is understood to be based, the gov- ernment of the United States is con- strained to regard that, practice as in- consistent with that true justice, sincere amity and impartial fairness which should characterize the dealings of friendly governments with one another. There is no purpose or inclination on the part, of the government, of the United States to shield American citizens or businesi bOUSet in any way from the legitimate consequences Of unneutral ad or practic ***•*•** It four government) hopes and be- lieves that hi- majesty'! government., in its natural ab orption in a single press- ing object of policy, has acted without. a lull realization of the many undesired and undesirable results that might fol- low. Ii i- to be hoped that Groat Brit- ain will not be angry with us for writing her. After all, we only i for an explanation of her net. ion. She will explain. She will abide by the promise given in her last note re- garding mail seizures, wherein she bound herself to explain to us any detail of her system, for, she said, she had nothing to conceal. The London Times seems to have gauged the true meaning of our nolo. The r l'n, i >: calls h a political maneuver designed to elicit a British disavowal which will be pro- claimed as a great triumph for President Wilson's administration. The London Times and the Brit- ish foreign office know too well that Great Britain can gran! the little asked in our note without, in the slightest degree modifying their boy- cott of such American firms as she chooses to boycott. The formal printed blacklist itself could be with- drawn without affecting the long- standing measures by which Oreat Britain has terrorized neutral ship- ping into joining her own in refus- ing cargo not passed by officials of the British government. Our nolo doc- not look the main problem in the eye. It. does not even handle with directness thai insig- nificant offshoot known as the Brit- id, blacklist.— Aug. 1, 1916. 170 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS THE REIGN OF TERROR A long British blacklist carries the names of many of the most prom- inent buyers of South America. You cannot send to one of these firms to- day an American shipment larger than a parcel post package. No steamship will take your goods. Try them. Try the British Hous- ton line, running to Rosario, Monte- video, Buenos Ayres. Try the Brit- ish Prince line, or the British Lam- port & Holt line, running to Brazil and the River Platte. Try the Amer- ican Norton line to the River Platte. Even the Norton line will not accept your shipment. Why? Among other tilings, the American steamer might be refused British coal at coaling stations be- tween here and Buenos Ayres, or at Buenos Ayres itself. The steamer might be hauled into British Trini- dad, as neutral ships for Scandina- via are taken into Kirkwall, and in- advertently held up a week while it was unloaded and the shipment searched for. Even if you could get your ship- ment on board — which you cannot — try to finance it! Draw on your blacklisted buyer and your Ameri- can bank will not discount your draft. So large are the blackists to- day that the larger banks in New York employ blacklist clerks to keep track of neutral concerns with which the bank and its customers may not do business. American firms, black- listed, are being asked to withdraw their accounts from New York banks. American banks are refus- ing to accept for deposit checks drawn on other American banks on the British blacklist. A commercial reign of terror is in force which is quite unexampled in our history. This crippling of our trade with South America cannot possibly be justified on the ground that the goods we ship might get through to Germany, because every vessel that sails from South America to Europe flies an allied flag. To this date the only official British answer to our Mr. Polk's pro- test against the British blacklist has been the forwarding to us of a sup- plementary list, containing thirteen additional names. — Aug. 11, 1916. MEETING THE BLACKLIST Very quietly, on August 18, the Senate met the challenge of the British blacklist. On that date the Senate, with no dissenting voice, adopted an amend- ment to the shipping bill, providing that the secretary of the treasury be authorized to refuse clearance at our ports to vessels that refused to take cargo tendered by American citizens, unless the ship shall be already full or proper stowage shall forbid the acceptance of the cargo in question. That is, cargo may not be refused because the shipper is on any Brit- ish blacklist. On August 22 the allied embas- sies at Washington awoke to what had happened and started to protest. The provision will not affect our shipments to allied countries, for no one there will dare buy from an American on the British blacklist, so no shipments will be offered. The bill will mightily affect our trade to neutral Europe. At present lines to Holland and Scandinavia dare not accept cargo from an Amer- ican blackballed by England. Now they dare not refuse such cargo. THE P.IMTLSH BLACKLIST 171 If they accept it they will face long detention in British ports, while their whole cargoes are un- loaded and ransacked. But if they refuse cargo from blacklisted Amer- icans, they can take nothing from our ports at all. Perhaps when Washington finds every outward sailing from here halted in England a week en route simply because the ship took what we required it by law to take — per- haps then Washington will want to bring further pressure to bear. Be- fore adjourning it will be well for Congress to put further powers in the executive's hands for this emer- gency. Of course, the shipping bill is not yet law. It is before a conference committee of the House and Senate, and the allied embassies have by no means exhausted their influence. In any case, it is a novel and in- teresting situation, worth following closely.— Aug. 24, 1916. Ship Seizures THE SEIZURE OF THE HOCKING The seizure of the American steamship Hocking, sailing from N ow York to Norfolk, two American ports, by a British warship hrings a vital question to a sharp issue. The British theory of sea-domina- tion, as concertedly put by a British commander, is: "Britain's first line of defense is the enemy's coast." Carrying out this dictum to its logi- cal conclusion. Groat Britain has come into American waters and seized an American vessel engaged in the coastwise trade of the United States, and sent it to Halifax with a prize crew. The reason given by the British admiralty for this high-handed act is that the Hocking, which came into American registry from Dan- ish ownership, is suspected of hav- ing been hacked by German capital. In other words, the British goven- ment declines to recognize the va- lidity of the transfer of the steam- ship to American registry under the operations of American law. By this seizure the control of the American registry list is. in effect, taken from our government. If al- lowed to stand, the United States will he deprived of the power to de- cide whether or not a ship is to en- joy the protection of the United States flag. Are not American laws to be applicable even to American commerce, carried on in American waters adjoining our own coast? Does the claim of Great Britain to sea dominion make the acts of our government relating to tolls, con- traband and registry subject to re- vision in London? — November '2, 1915. A PROTEST THAT IS NO PROTEST There is not one word in this gov- ernment's note to England that will stop a British gunboat hauling an American ship to port "on sus- picion,'' or lead a British prize court to hasten its extremely deliberate judgment on the interned vessel and her cargo. The document re- cites most exhaustively all that England's war vessels have done the past year to interrupt American sea commerce with other neutral nations ; it also gives a history and analysis of the rights of neutrals under accepted international law; but as the "protest" of a nation determined to end a menace to its shipping, and to bring promptly to an issue the asserted right of an- other nation to continue such men- ace, it is by no means the kind of message that an Andrew Jackson would have penned. Xor is it in line with what would have been ex- pected from a G rover Cleveland, in view of the virile presentation of American rights made by that statesman during the controversy with England over the Venezuelan -HIP SEIZUKKS 173 boundary. President Cleveland's note woke up England thoroughly and closed the ineident. No one will claim that yesterday's message to England had any such result. Unlike a motion picture, which is action without words, the Lansing note is words without action. We have not dosed a controversy; we have merely cleared the way for another one. We have not pro- tected a single American cargo on its legitimate voyage; we have made still more certain its unwar- rantahle detention in an English port, with a far-off decision in in- t'-rnational courts as its only com- pensation for an interrupted voy- age and confiscated good-. Every point that our government makes in assertion of the sea rights of neutrals is left still open to ques- tion by England, or, for that mat- ter, by Germany. The neutral na- tions that looked to the great United States for a decisive inter- pretation of international law and a firm declaration of neutral rights will have to turn for it to their own notes to the English government, rather than to our-. The sharp, decisive tone that gives vitality and effect to words — that means results — is utterly lacking in the "Wash- ington message. England will be shrewd enough to realize this round-the-circle qual- ity of our so-called protest, just as trie fighting factions in Mexico re- alized and interpreted the past three years this government's vari- ous notes designed to protect Amer- ican lives and property there. They failed to do either. Mexicans con- tinued to insult and murder Amer- icans as they pleased, and destroyed their property at will. They have not stopped yet. With the -'triumph" of our diplo- macy in Mexico as an example of our protection of American life and property, is it a matter of wonder that England takes so calmly our rehearsal of her year's record of assault- on American shipping, and our failure to insist upon their continuance as "an unfriendly act" ? — Nov. 9, 1915. DO AS YOU PLEASE NOW, PAY FOR IT LATER, IS ENGLAND'S INTERPRETA- TION OF SEA LAW Yes, we are going to protest the seizure of the Eoehmg. Protest vigorously, so the dispatches from Washington say. Protest surely? No — "probably." Or, perhaps, the Washington Associated Press dis- patches meant to say that our gov- ernment will surely protest and "probably vigorously." Whichever way you read it — whether "probably protest" or pro- test "probably vigorously" — the qualifying word is there, and it has all the nullifying traits of a hole in a dam. No water backs up behind such a structure. So the good ship Hocking, seized by the English battleships off our coast, is "requisitioned" at Halifax, without even the prize court hear- ings that other American craft have sooner or later (usually later) been accorded by the English government. One of her owners — not her prin- cipal owner, but a stockholder — is said to be a German by birth though an American by naturalization. Our owti government, after investigation, gave the ship American registry. The vessel was on its way from New York to Norfolk — certainly neutral i; i THE GRAVEST 366 PAYS porta when takes over by the Eng- lish cruisers, and i^ now treated as a captured enemy ship. She is to be placed in commission at once in the English transport service. She thus heroines a most substantial aid to England in her struggle. Againsl this new violation o( in- ternational law. committed within 'sight of American shore, involving a \es>el plying between two Ameri- can ports, our government at Wash- ington has presented a protest at London. The protest should he pressed energetically. So tar. our series of protest- has not resulted in the release o\' a single American ship or American cargo or m securing recognition from the British governmenl of a single point raised at Washington. The British plan has been to go on doing as that nation's interests at sea de- manded, regardless o( the rights o( neutrals, and regardless o( estab- lished precedents in sea law. Even the Marquis o( Lansdowne in his speech in the House o( Lords last Tuesday did not attempt to jus- tify the English policy in this re- speet. or to indorse the drastic action of English prize courts. He took the ground that whatever was un- lawful in England's course could he settled \1 • 1T.R THE WAIJ by an international tribunal. That may he well enough from the English point of view, for it accomplishes England's purpose of sweeping the seas during war times of all vessels about which there is English suspicion. In other words, this policy reduces the sea com- merce o( the war period down to such as England feels warranted in permitting. As we have said, that is well enough from England's point of view, hut how about the American point o\' view? Our State depart- ment is under no obligation to keep in mind England's necessities; it is under obligation, however, to keep in mind American interests. We have none too many on the seas, as matters now stand; hut if such in- terests as we have can he raided at will by English cruisers, we may he sure that our sea trade will he re- duced to a negligible quantity un- less the war ends quickly. Mean- while. England increases her sea domination. Is Lord Lansdow ne's reference of these ship seizures to an interna- tional tribunal several years hence the last word to he said on the sub- ject ': Lansdow lie's claim that what- ever wrong England is doing ran he adjusted when peace returns is, in fact, an admission that wrong has been done. It is also a declaration o( purpose to continue perpetrating that wrong, and to pay afterward whatever damages American owners can recover in long-drawn-out inter- national litigation begun when war ends. There should he no let-up and no surrender in the State department's action. — December 6, L915. THE TRENT DECISION REVERSED The holding up of the Porto Ei- can liner Carolina, an American vessel flying the American flag, by the French battle cruiser Descartes, and the seizure of Carl Schade, a German subject, recalls with strik- ing faithfulness to detail the Trent incident. At the time when the American frigate San Jacinto sent a boarding party on board the Trent, bound SHIP SEIZURES 1 ", 5 from Havana for England, on the 8th of November, L861, to demand the surrender of J. M. Mason and John Slidell, commissioners of the Confederacy, Capt. Moir, the com- mander of the British vessel, de- clined to give up hie passengers. The Confederate officials, he point- ed '.hi to Lieut. Fairfax, U. S. X., the officer in command of the boarding party, were under the pro- tection of the British flag and could not be surrendered. Upon the declaration by the American officer of his purpose to take Mason and Slidell off the ship force, Commander Williams, I.'. X.. in charge of the British mails on board the Trent assumed command of the ship and made the following declaration to Lieut. Fairfs In this Bbip I am the representative of her majesty's government, and J call upon the officere of the ship and the passenger generally to mark my words when, in the name of that government, and in distinct language, J denounce this as an illegal act — an act of violation of international law — an act, indeed, of wanton piracy, which, had we the meant of defense, you would not dare attempt. The protest of the British com- mander was disregarded, Mason and Slidell and their secretaries were taken off the Trent, transferred to the San Jacinto and eventually lodged in Fort Warren, Boston har- bor. . Intense indignation Was aroused in England when news of the affair reached London. Preparations for war were immediately begun at the British arsenals and navy-yard-: troops w<:vc dispatched to Canada. In the meanwhile the British gov- ernment presented a vigorous de- mand at Washington for the re- lease of Mason and Slidell and for an apology for the violation of the dignity of the British flag. The incident aroused much feel- ing in this country, and one of the immediate expressions of public sentiment look the form of a rote of thanks by Congress to Capt. Wilkes, of the San Jacinto for his success in capturing the Confeder- ate officials, one of whom had been designated as ambassador to Great Britain and the other to France. President Lincoln and Secretary of Stan- Seward, however, did not -bare in the popular approval of the seizure. Consequently, without much delay, Ma -on and Slidell were taken from Fort Warren and put aboard a British steam in Boston harbor, and eventually reached their destination in Eng- land. B repudiating the action of the American commander, President Lincoln asquiesced, inferentially at »t, in Britain's contention that the seizure constituted a violation of international law — that it was. in fact, "an act of wanton piracy, a- Commander William-. R. .V.. had characterized it. And the repudi- ation came quickly. President Lin- coln did not wait until the end of the war: with the bigness of mind which make- him a landmark among the men of his generation, lie gave satisfaction to Great Britain, promptly and completely. And now Britain, which controls the sea policy of the Quadruple Entente, has taken a position in direct conflict with that which she took in 1861, and which the United States gracefully conceded. Will the "act of wanton piracy" commit- ted by the French cruiser Descartes he repudiated now, or will France wait until the end of the war? 176 THE GRAVEST 366 DAY'S There is a third alternative — that the United States will acquiesce in silence in the latest violation of the American flag by a belligerent. But such an eventuality is hardly conceivable. — Dec. 14, 1915. FRANCE YIELDS QUICKLY There is something of the tradi- tional Gallic courtesy in the prompt- ness of the decision of France to surrender the German subjects taken off four American ships by the Descartes. The seizures were plain violations of the law of na- tions as established by the Trent affair in the closing year of the Civil War. The State department acted with firmness and without much loss of time. The response of the French government has come quick- ly, and the men who were taken illegally from the protection of the American flag, flying over American ships, have already been handed over to the American consular authorities at Port de France. The incident is now closed with the complete vindication of the honor of the American flag. The only wonder is that the French should ever have undertaken to violate so plain a principle of inter- national justice on the sea. — Jan- uary 4. 1916. THE BLACKLIST OF THE SEA Eighty-five ships of peace owned by citizens of America. Norway, Sweden, Greece and other countries ami flying the flags of neutral I lowers are fugitives of the ocean. The freight rates between the Tinted States and Europe are high- er than ever before in history. For- tunes could be made by the own- ers of these ships if they could em- ploy them in the transatlantic trade. But they dare not, for the British would seize the vessels wherever they found them. Shut off from the rich commerce of the transatlantic, the owners keep their vessels in such business as they can get with South America and distant ports where British warships are not like- ly to be lurking. If these eighty-five steamers could be utilized in general com- merce it would lighten to some ex- tent the terrific strain on ocean ton- nage, somewhat lessen the freight blockade on American railroads, make possible the shipment of more goods and, consequently, be of bene- fit to every branch of American in- dustry. But the eighty-five are on the British blacklist of the sea. They are proscribed. Their names, their tonnage, their crimes are cata- logued as are the names, the finger- prints and the offenses of human criminals. They are to be hunted down, seized and detained wherever they are found by warships of his Britannic majesty. The crime of the eighty-five pa- riahs of the deep is that the British authorities know or suspect that some one of German nationality or German sympathies has a financial interest in them. A dozen times over owners of some of these ships have tried to sell their vessels, but the British will not sanction such dealings. They persist in classing the ship as criminal, and refuse, whether it is innocent or guilty, to permit it to divest itself of its criminal attri- butes. Due to scarify of available ships, SHIP SEIZURES 177 ocean freights increase, returning enormous profits to the foreign owners of ships, over fifty per cent, of whom are British. — January 27, 1916. CENSORSHIP OF TRAVELING A dispatch from London tells us that "neutral diplomatic circles" are convinced that Britain will re- lease the thirty-eight citizens of the central empires unlawfully taken by a British cruiser from the Ameri- can steamship China en route from Shanghai to San Francisco. We have had one note from Britain tell- ing us that she would not free these captives. Early this week Secretary Lansing wrote a sharp note demand- ing their immediate release. To- day we have the interesting evidence that when we make a sharp demand on England it is met. Controversies with England on this subject are over a hundred years old. Before the war of 1812 British warships, applying the doc- trine of "once an Englishman al- ways an Englishman," searched American vessels and impressed into the British service naturalized American citizens of American birth. This indignity was one of the reasons why we went to war with England. In the peace treaty of Ghent, closing that war, no men- tion was made of this impressment matter, but the practice was dropped by England and the world knew that it would never be re- sumed. In 18G1 the British ship Trent was held by our warship San Ja- cinto and our captain, Charles "Wilkes, removed two Confederate commissioners, Mason and Slidell, en route for Great Britain. There was great rejoicing in New York and Boston when the Confederate commissioners were brought to port, but Great Britain peremptorily de- manded their release. Secretary Seward was disposed to assert what he considered as American rights, but President Lincoln counseled moderation : We fought Great Britain for insisting by theory and practice on the right to do precisely what Captain Wilkes has done. Lincoln's view prevailed and the Confederates were set free. The matter slept for over forty years. In the earlier part of the European war French cruisers took from American vessels trading to the West Indies various German members of the crews. On strong representation from our State de- partment France released these cap- tives. In regard to one of them, August Pipenbrink, our State de- partment wrote to France. There is no justification in interna- tional law for the removal of an enemy subject from a neutral vessel on the high seas bound to a neutral port, even if he could be regarded as a military person. France assented to the principle, England did not. In our first note protesting the China seizures we pointed out to her the analogy of the Trent case, but she retained the thirty-eight men taken from Amer- ican sovereignty, from under the American flag. Sir Edward Grey informed us that some of the cap- tives on arrival in America might have engaged in plots against Eng- land. The seizure could so little be supported that even the news- papers of Japan, Great Britain's ally, denounced it as a violation of international law. To-day Great Britain submits. It is possible to measure ex- 178 I'llK GRAVEST 366 PAYS actly the right which Great Britain had to take off an American ship fehe subjects of a power with whom we are at peace. Great Britain had the same right to do that as she would have to send troops across our border, take the same persons from an American railroad train and carry them off to Canada. Above all. is it possible that Britain, this writer of stern notes, this arbitrary maker of sea law in definance of neutrals, is really so tractable when she is sternly spoken to? [sour Mr. Lansing a Petruchio who is about to demonstrate the 'Taming of the Shrew": — .1/.: . 6, L916, THE WILHELMINA SETTLEMENT Eighteen months after the Amer- ican steamship U was un- lawfully - by Great Britain while on her wav \o Germany with a cargo >dstuffs, the owners are recompensed by Great Britain. There is a tendency to regard this settlement as in some wav satisfac- tory. Even those who admit that the British settlement does nor atone for the violation of princi] seem to think that this payment proves that the wrongs Great Brit- ain is doing us can be paid . while tho-e of Germany cannot. Such is the opinion of Saturday's New York W rid: \- neutrals see it. die seimre of the ~\\ lhclini»a\< cargo was as truly a srriev- aneo as the sinking of the - ;»lstutfs. but their attempt to re- - ablish their business with Ger- many failed. Had it succeeded, they would have made a protit not on one but on a hundred cargoes. The IFiZfceZmttMi carried grain and flour and provisions. After this ship was seized no one dared to attempt to ship foodstuffs to Ger- many. This meant a great and permanent loss to producers of foodstuffs in America, a loss not of to-day, but of to-morrow and all the future. To be sure, farmers have received high prices for their produce during this war. thanks to the central pow- -. who looked up the Russian wheat supply and made the neutral and allied nations dependent upon sn But a state department must look further than immediate effect T - ppage of the WUhelmina, and our accession in that s ge, has time closed the German foodstuffs market to us; Germany is now either producing all she tu\ - or importing it from her allies, and will continue to do this after the war. We shall sell no move \ flour or provisions to Germany, and little fodder. We shall sell them no more oil. phosphates, steel, naval stosreS] . cotton, in so far as they can by the greatest stretch of unity find substitutes at home or in friendy countries accessible by land. After the British use of sea power in this war no country will in the future dare to depend on an oversea SUIT SEIZURES L79 Bource of supply for the Qecessities of life. Least of all will the central powers again risk such dependency. The currents <>t* international trade have suffered a permanent diminu- tion. We have refused to enforce our asserted right to ship to an un- blockaded country all goods but con- traband of war. Thereby we have infinitely reduced the worth of over- sea sources of supply, yet we are an oversea source of supply for all our export markets except Mexico and Canada. We have stood by while the sea was being made a harrier that sepa- rates us from nations, not a link thai binds us to them. For this precedent is part of the interna- tional law of the future; it is by precedents that international law is made. No, the $392,000 paid the ship- pers on the Wilhelmina does not set- tle with America. It does not settle with us any more than the $15,000,- 000 m gold, paid us by England, settled for the harm done us in the Civil War l>\ the Alabama and her sister ships. Confederate privateers fitted out by England. They sank half our merchant marine and drove the other half to the British flag \o escape destruction. During the Civil War we were a weak nation, fighting for our lives against the Confederacy. We could not effectually protest against the wrong Great Britain did us nor stop it in its course. To-day it is dif- ferent. We are the most powerful nation in tin 1 world. No belliger* ent can resist our demand to return to the limits of law. Germany could not. Nor can England. — full/ IS. 1916. Red Cross "BY LEAVE OF ENGLAND" The American Bed Cross is thwarted in its charitable purposes by the unwillingness of England to admit certain kinds of medical sup- plies to countries with which she is at war. Such supplies, it appears from an official letter written from Eed Cross headquarters in Wash- ington, can be forwarded only by leave of England. To the sugges- tion that such supplies, urgently needed to carry on the work of the American Physicians 5 Expedition of New York, be taken to Germany on board ati American warship, the re- ply from Red Cross headquarters in Washington is that as England has objected to the transportation of such articles on merchant vessels, she would object equally to their being sent on an American warship. Such is the outcome of the at- tempt of the American Physicians' Expedition, of which Mr. Arthur von Briesen is president, to obtain a removal of England's ban upon rub- ber cloves and rubber bandages for the use of the four surgeons sent out from Xew York, under the per- sonal guarantee of the American ambassador to Germany, that the res and the bandages would be applied only to the purpose desig- nated. One member of the expedition. Miss Emma Duensing, of Xew York, has already died in the midst of her noble work from infection against which rubber cloves misrht have protected her. The expedition, as an article on another page of this issue will show, has sought the aid of the Eed Cross, and through that organization, of the government at Washington, in its attempts to protect the remaining four members of its staff in Germany from a mis- fortune similar to that which has laid Miss Duensing low: And the reply is that England would not consent to relax its stringent regulations even to make possible the continuation of the laudable hospital work of Ameri- cans who are tending the wounded of all nationalities alike. Since when has charity become contraband? Since when have the laws of nations permitted England to kill the wounded or the surgeons or nurses in the hospitals by deny- ing them supplies indispensable for their protection from deadly infec- tion ? And since when has America acquiesced in such a heartlessly ar- rogant policy? How much further is our status in the world to be determined "bv leave of England" ?— Dec. 83, 1915. THE AMERICAN RED CROSS For many months the allies have refused "•permits" for the passage to Germany of Eed Cross supplies collected in this country. Our State department has informally nego- tiated with London, but in vain. At last, on April IS. the American Eed RED CROSS lsi Cross had to write and ask donors of Red Cross supplies for the cen- tral powers to take back their gifts or allow a different disposition to be made of them This is the message thai had to be passed on from the Slate depart- ment : The American Red Cross has received notification through the State depart- ment of the derision of the British gov- ernment that Red Cross supplies destined to enemy countries will not be passed through the blockade established by the entente allies. Under such conditions the Ameri- can Red Cross loses its mime and nature. It becomes nothing more than an auxiliary branch of the hos- pital and ambulance services of the entente allies. But American members of the Red Cross were not satisfied with this disposition of the case. After much urging Mr. Taft, chairman of the organization's central commit- tee, was induced to write to Secre- tary Lansing and ask him to for- mally protest the British action: The authorities of the American Red Cross believe that, under the Geneva convention, to which the United States and all the belligerent powers are signa- tories, the United States has the right to insist thai aricles serving exclusively to aid the sick and wounded, in the form of hospital supplies, shipped by the American U''<1 Cross to the Red Cross of tin- central powers, shall not be declared contraband, but shall be allowed safe conduct to their destination. Secretary Lansing — so Washing- ton announced on May 12 — is to make a formal protest. Americans cannot help feeling a hope that the secretary will insist on our "treaty rights" with all the mighty force at his disposal. That force is an irresistible one. He proved it when he compelled the re- lease of the German and Austrian Bubjects unlawfully removed by a British cruiser from the American steamship China. He will prove it whim he comes to apply that force to the removal of the illegal British blockade. The secretary has a logical and consistent mind. With unanswer- able logic he insisted on our lawful right to ship munitions of war to the allies. Then — God of Christian peo- ples! — is there anything in human or divine law to prevent us from insisting on our right to heal the verv wounds we make ?—}fay 16, 1916. Humanity and Atrocity WARS HORRORS VISUALIZED The columns of the press of the belligerenl nations are teeming with ghastly reminders of what war means to the individual, to twenty millions of individuals scattered in the world's battlefields. In a Lon- don publication, just arrived, the excellence of a large variety of ar- tificial limbs is set forth for the benefit of its readers. Here are some of the descriptive phrases which occur : Artificial log for amputation above the knee. Double ball-bearing ankle-joint. Supporting and operating harness for artificial arm. Raising the hat by means of artificial arm. The artificial foot and ankle-joint. Ball-bearing knee-controller. Sponge rubber foot; ankle and foot action obtained by stepping as with the natural foot. Picking up a coin with artificial hand. Side view of artificial arm, showing operating mechanism. And so on down the appalling list of mutilations, the work of shot and shell and bayonet, of tearing and thrusting and rending implements of destruction. All these tragedies are not en- acted in pitched battles, deciding the fortunes of campaigns. For the most part they are the work of those obscure and futile exchanges of projectiles that are going on day and night along fighting lines ex- tending more than 2.000 miles upon the scarred face of Europe These engagements may- mean nothing in the long run of military operations. They may not result in the loss or gain of a single yard of ground. But the killing and the mutilation goes on, even in those casual, rou- tine, matter-of-fact workings of the military machine which in the offi- cial reports are characterized in a stereotyped paragraph, something as follows : In the Gorizia sector everything was quiet to-day. Quiet ? Yes. The quiet of newly made graves. The quiet of silent, inanimate objects which once were men. The quiet of the death which Kurope is dying many thousands of times a day. — Nov. 30, 1915. PILING UP HATRED Our neighbor, the Globe, prints prominently a long article from its European correspondent, Mr. Her- bert Corey, in which, on the au- thority of an unnamed "major of Canadians." two horrible stories are linked. The first of these concerns a Canadian sergeant, unnamed, who is said to have been crucified at Ypres, where he had been found, wounded, by the Germans in a shed which the Canadians afterward re- took. As Mr. Corey tells it : "I saw him myself," said the major of Canadians, talking in Paris, "cruci- fied on the door of a sort of a shed like. They had jabbed holes through his hands and feet with their bayonets and then HUMANITY AXD ATROCITY 183 thrust wooden plugs through them to sustain his weight. We all saw it. I tell you, we went mad." Ami the other story, the sequel, as Mr. Corey tells it: "We had some prisoners," said the major. "Twenty-three, I think. The boys killed them and cut their bodies in pieces and strewed them in the road along which the Germans must come. On some of them we pinned the Ca- nadian emblems from the uniforms of our dead, just so they would know how Canada takes revenge. Ever since then the Germans have been afraid of us. They believe that we do that often. They think we are savages." The Globe correspondent does not vouch for the stories himself. ITe sprinkles the recitation with a few comments intended to suggest his own doubt about the crucifixion, such as : "It is a bit too inhuman, that story; too hellish." As for the alleged killing of the twenty-three prisoners, he indirectly suggests that it was not possible for men like the Canadians to have done such a thing. The most important thing about the matter, from the American point of view, is that a story printed as prominently as this was printed is believed in toto by a large num- ber of persons whose willing minds automatically discard all suggestions of doubt as to the truth of the tales. Your anti-German will come to the end of the column raging over the idea, welcome to his imagination, that the Germans crucified a Ca- nadian. ' Your pro-German will be incensed at the supposed butchery of the German prisoners. It was an Englishman — Jerome K. Jerome, we believe — who ad- vised his countrymen early in the war not to say too many wild things about the foe. "Whether we like it or not," he said, "we have got to live with Germany for a long time." Similar advice might well have been given by cool men in every country in Europe, for the nations of Eu- rope have got to live with one an- other after this war is over — at least until there is another war — just as we will have to live with Canada, even if this Corey tale were a thou- sand times true But nations do not live any hap- pier with their neighbors for things like this, true or false. If true, these horrors should he dealt with as crimes. If untrue, then the crime of calumny is at somebody's door, perhaps the unnamed major's. There have been in this war so many atrocities, the records of which have been set down with names, places and dates, that there is no need of drawing upon the imagination for fresh hellishness. We do not say that Mr. Corey's story is manufactured, but we do say that to print it without naming the source is unfair to our neighbors, the Canadians, and unfair to the Germans, too. — Dec. 17, 1915. WHERE WOULD REPRISAL END? It seems to be the intent, in cer- tain political quarters of Germany, to throw away a grievance by aveng- ing it, even when that very griev- ance has indeterminably great value. We refer to the unanimous demand, made at a recent session of the Reichstag, that the government avenge the reported murder of the German submarine fleet in the Bar- along affair. In that particular matter Ger- many had what appeared to be a "good case"; one in which she 1S4 THE G1LYYEST 366 DAYS could at least prove that brutality was the weakness of other nations ; one in which, by sane procedure and patience, she could show that she had not discarded the laws of war. Germany's brief in the Baralong case Mas a moral weapon, for it ap- pealed to every neutral. If Germany, blinded by fury, turns to bloody reprisal against the British, lawless brutality will in- crease, instead of ending, the ratio of horror, doubling as it goes on. It would be impossible to forecast the end if both Germany and Eng- land should abandon all the conven- tions of battle. England and Germany have been appealing for American sympathy in cases like the tragedy of Miss Cavell and the seeming horror of the Baralong. The appeals have been made, not to our government, but to the American people, who can do little more than murmur and Tegret. It is time for the government of the United States to do something — to appeal to these two nations not to disgrace what remains of twenty centuries of Christian civilization by acting like wild beasts. Let us offer our services for an inquiry. With an umpire looking on. we be- lieve, foul work would stop. — .7-//;. 29, 1916. WARRING FOR HUMANITY On March 10 a letter from Pre- mier Asqnith was publish in Lon- don giving 3,153 as the number of noncombatants killed by the atro- cious Germans in the war. through coast bombardment, air bombs and submarines. On March 9 Lord Bryce published in London a pam- phlet explaining that Britain was warring "especially for the exemp- tion of noncombatants from the suffering and horrors which war brings." Three thousand one hundred and fifty-three noncombatants. It is a terrible number. Naturally the British have taken every care that no such charge as this can be laid against their souls, in their right- eons struggle for the exemption of noncombatants from the sufferings of war. Have they been successful in the accomplishment of their high aims? When the war broke out England •began to seize every shipment of food going to Germany, whether consigned to the army or to civil- ians. No pound of food that the British fleet could capture on the high seas has gone through to Ger- many. Such procedure is not only inhuman, it is even unlawful, unless an effective blockade is maintained. Not until March 1, 1915. did Britain attempt any such measure, and she has not to this day dared to call it a blockade. It is an unexampled interference with our commerce on the seas. It is an interference to which we cannot accede — so Mr. Lansing contends — without surren- dering our rights and violating our neutrality. To return to the sturdy British fight in behalf of noncombatants. Britain has refused even to let us send food to Germany to be dis- tributed among civilians by our own consular officers. It could not be plainer proved that the British measures are directed against wom- en and children in Germany. No one imagines that the German army is going to suffer from shortage of food. They are fed first. The hope is that the nation will sicken at the HUMANITY AND ATROCITY 185 view of the suffering of these non- combatants, for whose protection Great Britain is warring. There are 35,000,000 females and some tens of millions of male babies and other male noncombatants in Ger- many. The campaign has not been with- out its effect. Judge Ben Lindsey,. of Denver, has come back from a few weeks in Germany. He told a New York audience of a million civilian deaths in Germany last year; 500,000 were children and a very great number of these died from lack of milk. That is because American fodder, used to feed Ger- man cattle, could not get through the British fleet. The Russians, retreating in Po- land, kill all the cattle they cannot drive away. To-day there are no more babies in Poland. But Russia does not pretend to be warring for noncombatants. England does. Britain is fighting "especially for the exemption of noncombatants from the sufferings and horrors which war brings." How long, O Lord, how long ? O noble nation ! O liberty ! O hypoc- risy ! What crimes are committed in thy name! — March 21, 1916. ATROCITIES AND SANITY What horrible tales arc daily cabled to the American people, tales of unspeakable barbarity not only by Serb and Bulgar, but also by English, French and German, whose civilization we call our own. We hear of soldiers with mutilated ears and tongues, of Red Cross workers and hospitals deliberately attacked, of civilians slaughtered, violated, crucified. Are these the British and Germans we knew? Have our Anglo and Saxon brothers sunk to the level of the lowest beasts? Is our own immediate human nature thus red in tooth and claw? The saving thought is that it may not all be true, not quite true On Saturday, November 11, 1758, the gentle Dr. Samuel Johnson wrote in the Idler: In time of war the nation is always of one mind, eager to hear something good of themselves and ill of the enemy. At this time the task of news writers is easy; they have nothing to do but tell that a battle is expected, and afterward has been fought, in which we and our friends, whether conquering or con- quered, did all and our enemy nothing. Scarcely anything awakens attention like a tale of cruelty. The writer of news never fails in the intermission of action to tell how the enemy murdered children and ravished virgins; and, if the scene of action be somewhat distant, scalped half the inhabitants of the province. Among the calamities of war may be justly numbered the diminution of the love of truth which interest dictates and credulity encourages. A peace will equally leave the warrior and the relater of wars destitute of employment, and I know not whether more is to be dreaded from the streets filled with soldiers ac- customed to plunder, or from garrets filled with scribblers accustomed to lie. On Saturday, November 11, 1758, the news writer at the front was very much as he is to-day. But in 1916 we have more highly trained correspondents, official news bureaus and all the conveniences of cable and wireless to invent and spread the same old tales. — March 30, 1916. MAKING WAR NEWS The many fantastic shapes that war news sometimes takes in the course of its wanderings from pro- ducer to consumer are pointedly il- lustrated by the adventures of Lady 186 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS Ralph Paget When the Bulga- rians entered O&kub on the heels of the fleeing Serbians, Lady Paget chose to remain in the invaded tem- porary capital o{ Serbia and carry on her work of succoring the Ser- bian wounded and refugees. No sooner had the Bulgarians occupied TJskub than a variety of cable mes- sages describing atrocities perpe- trated upon Lady Paget and her companions began to vibrate across the Atlantic. The allegations ranged somewhat as follows : 1. The Bulgarians have arrested Lady Paget and her lifo is feared for. 2. The Bulgarians have seized all of Lady Paget's supplies and have made prisoners of most of the members of her party. 3. The Bulgarians have razed Lady Paget's hospital with artillery. There is grave anxiety for Lady Faget. Lady Paget and her staff of fifty- four have just arrived at London, and a leading member of the party thus describes their experiences: The Bulgarian advance was so rapid that we were cut off. The Hue of battle passed practically through the hospital, but when the Bulgars saw the Red Cross they did not tire in our direction. They took possession of the town in an orderly way and gave us a great amount of liberty. Lady Paget was allowed the independent use of her stores in helping refugees. At one time we supplied food to between 3.000 and 4.000 refugees daily. "Which would make it appear that Lady Paget herself was not aware of the terrible things that were hap- pening to her during the time when she was in the power of the ferocious Bulgarians. — April 6, 1916. ROYAL ALMS The news reports an event of in- ternational importance. It is the collection by Mrs. Cornelius Van- derbilt of a $300,000 American re- lief fund for royalty. Thirty con- tributions o( $10,000 each are sought, and $140,000 has already been contributed. The $300,000 is to be distributed in equal parts to Queen Mary, the Czarina and Presi- dent Poincare. They are to use the $300,000 as they please. Come to think of it. it is stupen- dous that the deserts of these inno- cent victims of the war should have been overlooked, amid the more clamorous demands o( widows, or- phans, refugees and soldiers maimed in the war. Royalty has been sim- ply too well bred to voice its suffer- ing. It is a proud day for America that we have citizens to feel and realize this hidden need. Investigation proves that the czar's income from the crown lands is a bare $20,000,000 per year. Obvi- ously too little — in these days of high prices — to properly care for both himself and the czarina Then what shall we say of the niggardly $2,- 330,000 annually allowed the king and queen of England for privy purse, household expenses and char- ities; And as for the president of France, with a yearly alms of $240,- 000, or Less than $1,000 per day — it can't be done. It is high time for help, and prompt help. The only pity is that subscriptions were limited to thirty persons who could afford $10,000 each. That prevents the fund from being a national one in the widest sense: there are so many that can- not give quite $10,000 and yet whose hearts yearn to give their mites. There are 200 American soldiers in hospital on the Mexican border. Who will start a fund to aid them? —AprU S. 1916. HUMANITY AND ATROCITY 187 THE DECLINE OF THE SEN- TIMENT OF PITY By S. S. MoClure I asked Prof. Eucken what would be the most permanent result of the war. He said, "Hatred." He might have added, as an immediate result, the decline of the sentiment of pity. A proof of this is the way the eivil- ized world endures the incredible tragedy of the Armenians. It is possible that history may furnish a parallel to the horrors taking place to-day in Asiatic Tur- key, but certainly nothing more ter- rible lias ever been recorded. I publish to-day a few extracts from the great mass of reports by eyewitnesses. Nothing can occur in Asiatic Turkey without being known to the Europeans, who are there as officials, business men, missionaries, etc. Most of what I print is from German sources. The German gov- ernment has sought in every way to mitigate these cruelties. The Amer- ican ambassador, Mr. Morgenthau, worked continuously to the same end. Many of the victims of the most atrocious tortures were men and women of wealth and refinement, oftentimes educated in Europe. I met many children in Constan- tinople whose parents, brothers and sisters were among the victims, and those children had all the refine- ment and sensibility to be found in the children of any land. Talaat Bey has punished in many cases Turkish officials who were guilty of cruelty, but the punish- ment of a few of the guilty officials has not changed the policy and can- not undo the wrongs. The horrors of the last two years have dulled the power to feel.— June 24, 1916. ZEPPELIN AND AEROPLANE RAIDS ON CIVILIANS By S. S. McClurb When 1 was in Mannheim 1 saw a Zeppelin. LZ-97, circling around over the town. I had just visited one of the fatuous municipal kitch- ens, where hundreds of school cbil- dreri, some as young as six years, were having a delicious luncheon for five cents each. And I thought, supposing this were a hostile Zeppe- lin, and it should drop bombs among these little children; what a das- tardly and unpardonable crime it would be ! When I reached Berlin T asked one of the ministers of the German government why they practiced Zep- pelin warfare in France and Eng- land, especially as the Zeppelins generally killed mostly women and children. The answer was partly to satisfy the German people that the government was acting against Eng- land, and bringing the war home to the English people, and partly be- cause the English and French dropped bombs on civilians in Ger- man towns. I told him T thought it was a mistake; that it increased hatred and detestation greatly out of proportion to the military value of the policy. Now we read of French aero- planes dropping bombs among help- less civilians in Karlsruhe. There were seventy-five children and five women 'and thirty men killed; and seventy-nine children and twenty women and fifty men injured. Such warfare is inexcusable. Crimes of frightfulness, instead of bringing peace nearer, have pro- duced such hatred as will undoubt- edly be a potent factor in prolong- ing the war. — June 29, 1916. 188 THE GRAVEST 3G6 DAYS MURDERING CAPTAIN FRYATT Such is the description which a portion of the New York press ap- plies to Genu anv's action in court- martialing and executing Capt. Fryatt of the peaceful British pas- senger steamer Brussels, plying be- tween London and Rotterdam. There is no contention that the Brussels was armed. She was a peaceful British merchantman cap- tured on the high seas and taken into Zeebrugge by German destroy- ers. Her captain has now been ex- ecuted, murdered. Such are the conclusions reached and the judgment passed by a por- tion of our press and by the foreign office at London. Intelligent Amer- icans are accustomed to make their own conclusions from the facts. The facts in this case have been stated by the court that tried Fry- att, and are not denied by any one. On March 28 the German submarine U-33 rose and signaled the Brus- sels to stop, off the Maas lightship. The Brussels did not heed the sig- nal, but turned and rushed at the U-33 to ram her. The U-33 sub- merged and escaped. For the ex- ploit of the Brussels Fryatt and his chief engineer received and wore admiralty watches for bravery. The evidence of these watch inscriptions counted at the trial. America is concerned in the event. On March 28 the U-33 was trying to exercise that policy of visit and search which our government forced on Germany as a substitute for unwarned destruction of British steamers. The British steamer was exercising that resistance to visit and search which, we declare, de- prives a merchant steamer of im- munity and justifies her destruction. Capt. Fryatt, by an act of attempt- ing to ram the submarine, endan- gered the lives of all the passengers he carried. Instead of having the U-33 way- lay Capt, Fryatt's steamer on her next trip and sink her, German de- stroyers capture her, tow her into port, put her cargo into prize court and try her captain. He was exe- cuted as a sea sniper, just as a land sniper would be executed if found by his enemy carrying a govern- ment watch for his prowess. Some issues of this war are ob- scure and complicated. This one is simple and clear. — Aug. 1, 1916. OPIUM EMBARGOES Great Britain has forbidden the importation of opium and cocaine into the United Kingdom. It may be that the embargo is connected with the reported spread of the drug habit among the Canadian contin- gent. In any case, an embargo on opium imports calls up to the mind China and. its long fight with the deadly poison, and recalls, in inter- esting fashion, the opium war of 1840. In 1840 China, just like England to-day, attempted to forbid the im- portation of opium into her boun- daries. The embargo's principal ef- fect was on the exports of opium from British India to China. To stop these exports would have caused grave loss to British-Indian inter- ests. More than that, it would have ruined the finances of the British- Indian government, whose main in- come was from the opium export tax. Great Britain went to war with HUMANITY AND ATKOCITY 189 China on the issue. When the war was over, China was of course de- feated, and the Chinese market for Indian opium again opened. Great Britain is quite right in her action; so was China. Had China not heen hindered she would have be- gun half a century earlier her fight against a national scourge. The incident is worth recalling. It is one of the many illustrations in recent history of the fact that when it is to Great Britain's inter- est she defends the rights of small or weak nations; and when it is to her interest to do so, she abolishes those rights. Such was the case with China in 1840. Such more lately was the case with Persia and the Transvaal. For any nation to claim to act in the interest of others is to fly in the face of history and to pro- claim that a nation expressly re- nounces obedience to the first law of nature among individual men. No nation can afford to be so hypocritical. What this country should lay to heart is the fact that no nation can afford to join any post-bellum scheme of international amity which has as its basis the im- possible principle that our first duty in the world is to take care of other nations. Our first duty is, and will always be, to take care of ourselves. — Aug. 1, 1916. Greece ROME AND ATHENS Greece hesitates; she is divided in her council. Venizelos, who wishes to throw the armed forces of Greece on the side of tin- allies, resigns bc- cause the king is unwilling to hack his policies. Manv different in 11 nonces are at work within the Greek nation and within the Greek government — some personal, as the presence in the king's household of the sister of the German emperor. The king weighs what the principle of efficient mon- archy, as typified in Germany, will mean as a support to him and his country in the future, and compares the advantage to be derived with re- turns that will come to him if Russia heroines the dominant influence in the Balkan peninsula. For Greece, however, the main question turns OD Italy's position in the eastern Mediterranean. Italy, after centuries of quiescence, is re- awakening. Eer population has he gun to increase and the surplus of births is becoming greater each year. A revival of industry is giving her economic energy and has built, un- der the Italian slate, a firmer struc- ture o{ financial power. The bene- fits of Ihe unification of the Italian people are beginning to accrue. Once more, as these new energies pulse through the Kalian life, the dream o{ imperial power has stirred the hearts of the Italian people. Rome must reach oui beyond the Italian peninsula. Eer natural outlet would be directly across the Mediterranean, on the north shores of Africa, but here France is already in possession and Italy's expansion has been blocked. She has been crowded east to Tripoli and is looking now to the island and the shores of Asia Minor for her reward. Greece, too, has a surplus of births; to her, too, there has come a revival of agriculture and the begin- nings of industry. In trade the Creeks are gaining position. The old Hellenic dream has been aroused after its century-long struggle, (ireeee has expected to find in the islands near her domain and on the shores of Asia Minor new points of power. She is unwilling to admit Italy to this sphere of influence. Rome and Athens, to-day as 2,000 years ago! — Oct. 7, 1915. GREECE AND THE ALLIES The hazards and uncertainties of Balkan politics are strikingly brought home to the world by the crisis in Greece. The situation at Athens is pregnant with dramatic possibilities affecting the issues which have plunged the world into war. Venizelos before his dismissal was steering his country into a posi- tion where its direct participation in the struggle on the side of the allies of the entente would have been in- evitable. At the moment when London and Paris were awaiting the declaration GREECE 191 that would have bound Greece to the cause of the allies, however, I he king intervened, Yeni/.elos fell, and his fall sent a thrill of apprehension through the capitals of the entente. As things now stand, the king and the deposed premier are committed to diametrically opposed policies. Venizelos is still confident of his ability to swing his country into the cam]) of the allies. The king, as brother-in-law of I he German kaiser, is determined that Gr !6 shall not draw the sword in oposition to Ger- many. The power behind both king and minister — the Creek people — is evidently inclined to hack Yeni/elos against Constantino. Who will win? II may he assumed without much doubt that in the end the popular feeling will manifest itself in deci- sive fashion. But in the meanwhile, and con- trary to the views of the responsible bead of the (J reek government, Greece is definitely committed to the allies in a fashion which is without precedent in the annals of war. The allies have landed an army of 70,000 Frenchmen at Salonica, presumably to he used against Bulgaria in case she should attempt to seize Serbia's line of communication, the Guev- gheli-TJskub railway. This violation of the neutrality of Greece was pro- tested, hut the protest was not hacked by the use of armed force, as was the protest of the Belgian king. Incidentally this army of French- men now on Greek soil, protecting lie base of landing for additional troops, would prove highly useful to Venizelos as a means of exerting pressure on the recalcitrani govern- ment of the king. That action will follow soon is evident from the com- ment of the London Times: "The situation demands prompt decision by the allies and does not admit of temporizing or half meas- ures. The first step is to ascertain unmistakably and without, delay the, intentions of K ing Constant inc. Ap- parently we have to deal with him and not with any advisers he may accept in place of M. Venizelos. — < Oct. 7, 1915. ENGLAND AND GREECE The dramatic exigencies of tho Balkan crisis have led to a situation without parallel in history — the offer by a first-class power of a part of its territory to a third-rate nation, in an attempt to obtain its military aid, and the refusal of the tempting com- pensation by the thirtd-rate nation. Some inkling of the profound sense of irritation that has been pro- duced in some British quarters by Great Britain's offer of Cyprus, the third largest island of the Mediter- ranean, to Greece, is furnished by the London Post's denunciation of the extraordinary project, a.s a na- tional humiliation which in all prob- ability will fail of its purpose to in- duce the intervention of Greece in behalf of the entente in the pending operations in the Balkans — opera- tions which Germany regards as promising a decisive effect upon the general world operations. But the offer of Cyprus, to be ceded immediately, is only a detail of the proffered concessions, which include Bulgarian and Turkish ter- ritory almost up to the walls of Con- stantinople, and a, liberal slice of Asia, Minor, the land of Greek de- sires. To all these Haltering proposals, designed to turn I he head of any na- tion even I he largest -Greece has replied with a refusal. The reason 192 THE GRAVEST 366 PAYS for this refusal is to In- found be- tween the lines o( the dispatches from Athens. Greece practically in- forms the British Foreign office, hard beset at home for the failure o( its policy in the Balkans, thai the entente does not hold the balance of power in the Balkans — in other words, there is a doubt in the Greek mind o( Great Britain's ability to carry out its promises. Furthermore, there is a suspicion in some Greek quarters that the ex- pansion offered to Greece in Asia Mmor has already boon mortgaged to Italy, Hence, Greece remains firm in its purpose to await the outcome of events, which just now do not appear reassuring to any prospective Balkan ally o( the ontonto.— Oct. 83, 1915. THE GREEK CRISIS The defeat of Premier Zaimis in the chamber of deputies in Athens on an appeal for a vote oi confidence in a controversy with Eleutherios Venizelos, the former premier, is a significant incident which may have an important bearing on the situa- tion in the Balkans ami on the Euro- pean war as a whole. Zaimis is the advocate o( the maintenance ^( neutrality, for the present at Least, by Greece, in spite o( the existence of a treaty between Serbia ami Greece, by which the lat- ter country a pears to be bound to aid the Serbians in the event — now an actuality — of an attack upon them by Bulgaria. Venixelos, on the other hand, has declared repeat- edly that, in failing- to carry out her treaty obligations. Greece has com- mitted an aet of bad faith. Yeui.e los, apart from his construction oi the Serbo-Greek treaty as an agree- ment binding his country to aet ion under the existing international cir- cumstances, is also convinced that the moment arrived, with Bulgaria's attack upon Serbia, for the realii a tion o( Greek national aspirations in the Balkans and in Asia Minor b\ a declaration o( war against Bulgaria in conjunction with the Quadruple Entente. For the moment, therefore, the war party is in the ascendant in Athens, on the assumption that the resignation of Zaimis, as the result o( the laek of confidence expressed in the chamber, will bo follow oil by the resumption by Venizelos o( the portfolio of premier, which he "re- linquished at the behest o( King Constantino several weeks ago. King Constantino, on account o\' his relationship by marriage with the Kaiser — Queen Sophie IS a lis- ter o( Wilhelm 11.— and because o\ his conviction that the central powers will he victorious, has here- tofore taken a decisive stand against intervention on the side of the al- lies, for which the majority of the people o( Greece have boon clam- oring. His attitude, however, is evidently being modified by the in- creasing strength of the Entente forces which have been lauded at Saloniea. and it is not at all unlikely that he will soon co-operate in the purpose which was expressed as fol- lows by Veniaelos shortly after his relinquishment o( power: "The soul oi Greece demands the destruction of Bulgaria." — Nov, 6, 1915. GREECE'S BITTER CHOICE Seldom in history has a count ry been confronted with so bitter a choice as that which Greece is fac- GREECE 193 ing at this moment of world-wide conflict. The entente ha ei ired upon ill*; government at Atben demand, amounting to an altima- luin, for the intervention of the Greek army in the war on their side. The force which they are able to ap- plj to their demand it grimly indi- ed hy the announcement from Parii uri'l London that ' - ■• ■■ k ship- ping, the greatest commercial at of the Greek people, hflf already been placed under a partial embar- go. One more step and it will <■< ■ to exist. With a long coast line exposed to naval attacks, for which the fleet of the allies if already clearing decks, Greece U considering the one altern- ative to juch a disastrom eventual- . and that is intervention in be- half of the entente. Bui such an in- tervention, in view of the failure of the Anglo-French force-, in the Balkans to check the Bulgarian ad- ranee toward the Greek frontiers, of- fers dangers hardly less menacing than a raid upon her coast cities by the entente. If Greece yields to the pressure from London and Paris, will have jumped from the frying pan of Entente anger into the fire of Bulgarian wrath — and behind the conquering Bulgarians in Serbia are the swiftly advancing Germans and Austrians, with whom she would find herself automatically at war the moment she yielded to the demands of the Entente. The full tragedy of the situation, bo far as Greece i- concerned, i- to be found in the fact that the Gr( •<■ have no war of their own to fight in the present phase of the world con- flict. They are urged to eommil suicide in the war which is not. of their own choosing, bnt in the in- terest of the powers of the entente. Surely this war, undertaken by allies for the defense of the rigl of small nation-, i- taking some queer turn ' Vov. 20, 1915. KING CONSTANTINES PLEA There is a note of deep resent- ment in the appeal for American sympathy given to the world through the American pre-- by Sing Gonstantine of Greece. The long, hy way of clarifying his sub- ject and bringing it home to the American mind, compares his de- ': for the maintenance of a neu- tral attitude with that of the United States. But, he point- out, America has the advantage over Greece in the remotei continent from the battlefields of the old world. The situation of his country, he submits, is of oni- trersal int and significance, as the coercion of Greece by the allies in the present crisis would establish a precedent which might well affect "America, Holland or any other country to-morrow." The determination of Greece to keep herself aloof from the strug- gle in the face of pressure from the quadruple entente which has re- duced the people of the country to the verge of keen distress by reason of interference with her maritime commerce, the backbone of her prosperity, is calculated to evoke the sympathy of the neutral world. The king implies, although he d not explicit!/.- say so, that Greece ha:-; no de-ire to take advantage of the opportunity for land-grabbing; no wild dream for greatness among the nations; no ambitious design to re-establish the glory and the greatness of ancient 1 fella-. Tlis sole de-ire is to save his country 194: THE GEAYEST 366 DAYS from the bloodshed and the devas- tation of a third war after the two in which it participated and for which it paid the price in lives and treasure. The difficulty of the situation in which Greece is involved is accent- uated by Constant ine's clarification of one of the most obscure phases of an international problem which is wrapped in a heavy mantle of obscurity. It had been supposed that the allies landed their forces at Salonica for the operations against Bulgaria with the tacit good will of Greece. Constantine main- tains that Greece permitted the landing of the Anglo-French troops and their consequent virtual mo- nopoly of the greatest port of Greece because she could not help herself — because the overwhelming naval power of the allies gave her no choice. Even an enemy of Greece cannot fail to be moved by the passionate summing up of King Constantine's case, when he says : The entente's demand is too much. They try to drive Greece out of neu- trality : they come into Greek territory and waters as though they were theirs. At Xauplia they destroyed tanks of pe- troleum, intended to kill locusts, on the excuse that they might be used by Ger- man submarines. They stop Greek ships : they ruin Greek commerce — as they have done with American ships, too — they want to seize our railways, and now they demand that we take away the troops guarding the Greek frontiers. leaving our country open to invasion or any lawless incursion. I will not do it. I am willing to discuss reasonably any fair proposals. But two things I will not concede : Greece shall not be forced or cajoled out of her neutrality ; Greece will maintain her sovereignty and her sovereign right to protect herself at need. Seldom has a king pleaded with deeper feeling for his people than does Constantine of Greece in this appeal to the conscience, not only of America but of humanity. — December 9, 1915. STARVED INTO WAR A resentful official of the Greek government, in discussing the at- tempts of the entente allies to force Greece into the war aginst the cen- Tral powers by the application of blockade measures alone the Greek coast, thus summarizes the probable outcome o^ the Franco-British pres- sure: ('.recce is much more likely to be starved into war than Germany is to be starved out of it. Behind this bitter protest against the most modern method of suasion — suasion by hunger — there is a story of high-handed policy which has brought Greece to the verge of internal disruption. Aided by an un- doubted inefficiency in the govern- mental organization of Greece, the entente powers by the enforcement o( a vexatious embargo on many kinds of supplies have brought the country of Homer, of Sophocles and of Themistocles to a state of actual famine. In a country where the average rate o{ wages is not more than 50 cents a day. the price of potatoes has been boosted to 48 cents a pound. Coal is quoted at $50 a ton — on paper, because it can- not be obtained even at that figure. Mutton sells at 19 cents, beef at 31 cents, fresh fish, in a country where fishing is one of the staple indus- tries/as high as $1.08. These figures indicate an appal- ling state of affairs. The people of a country not at war are much worse off than the rank and file of GEEECE 195 nations whose resources have suf- fered from the strain of a year and a half of fighting. Part of this dis- tress is undoubtedly due to the op- erations of speculators whom the Greek government, despite the legal machinery at its disposal, is unable to check. But the exercise of the cupidity of these speculators is made possible primarily by the ban on importations which has been im- posed by the friends and protectors of small nations — Great Britain and France. So Greece, as the oflicial quoted puts it, is being "starved into war." And she is being "starved into war," not against the central pow- ers, but in all likelihood against the invaders of her territory who, not content with using the soil of a neu- tral nation for their operations against peoples with whom Greece is at peace, are wielding the power of famine in their attempts to drive her into a war in which she has nothing at stake. Even if Greece succeeds in resist- ing the urgings of angry resent- ment and keeps out of active par- ticipation in the hostilities, it will be a long time before the Greek people forget the weight of the iron hands of the two democracies which are making themselves at home on the soil of Greece against her wishes. — March 24, 1916. THE SCREWS ON GREECE AGAIN The latest violation by the en- tente allies of the neutrality of Greece is the most far-reaching, and from the Greek point of view the most flagrant of the series of infrac- tions of Greek rights which the Franco-British forces have yet com- mitted. The Franco-British com- manders, after seizing about twenty Greek islands at various times, cut- ting off railroad communications be- tween Greece and Bulgaria, her sources of wheat supply, and put an end to Greek overseas commerce, have now gone much further than ever before in their gradual absorp- tion of the soil of Greece for their own use and benefit and in the face of continued protests from the king of Greece. Heretofore the entente powers have made thmesclves at home on outlying portions of the Greek king- dom — at Salonica, on the island of Corfu, on Crete. Now they are ex- ercising rights of ownership in the very heart of Greece, and their sphere of activities has extended to Athens. They are using the rail- road Prom Patras, on the east coast,, to Piraeus, the port of Athens, for the transportation of the rehabili- tated and reequipped remnant of the Serbian army — 150,000 men — ■ to Salonica. Against this fresh in- vasion of her rights Greece has pro- tested vigorously. Greece, now as since the begin- ning of the war, has made every ef- fort to maintain her neutrality. Her unwillingness to join in the world- wide struggle is the outcome of her conviction that she has nothing to gain, and might possibly lose much, as a belligerent. In the present crisis her problem of maintaining neutrality is complicated by the rep- resentations of the central powers that they could not regard her ac- quiescence in the latest proceeding of the Anglo-French military au- thorities as anything but an act of open unfriendliness to them. The answer of the Greek govern- ment to the central powers will be 196 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS that Greece is unable to prevent the transportation of the Serbian army ; that she is no longer mistress of her own territory; that her sover- eignty has been trodden under foot by the aggressive quadruple entente. The suppression of Greek sover- eignty is an interesting development in a struggle which was precipitated nominally because Russia could not suffer Serbian sovereignty to be en- dangered by an Austrian demand for satisfaction for the assassination of the heir to the Austrian throne. Greece has had plently of cause to regret that the Anglo-French forces ever undertook the task of cham- pioning small nations in the Balkans — especially since her own sover- eignty has been sacrificed to the cause of the sovereignty of other small nations. — April 18 1916. GREECE'S SURRENDER In yielding completely to the wishes of the entente by deciding upon the full demobilization of the 'Greek army. King Constantine fol- lows the only course open to him. TFrom the viewpoint of the entente, the demobilization of the Greek army was a military necessity. Lon- don, Paris and Petrograd had reason to believe that Greece was preparing to join the central powers. The chief reason for expecting such a coup was the apparent fact that Greece, by negotiation, had per- mitted Bulgaria to occupy three strategic fortified points south of the Bulgarian border. This accupation threatened the safety of the right wing of the Franco-British forces in the event of an attempted north- ward advance against the Austro- German-Bulgarian forces. The entente used the weapons of blockade and embargo with telling effect. Confronted with a complete ban upon her communications with the outside world. Greece has laid down her arms. By so doing she has given good guarantees that those arms will not be employed against the entente forces upon her soil. — June 13, 1916. THE PLIGHT OF GREECE The hazards which beset the lives of small nations in this war are pointedly illustrated by the sit- uation in which Greece linds herself to-day. When the great war broke out Greece was animated by the hope that she would be able to ac- complish what the great majority of Greeks regard as the manifest "destiny of their country — the ac- quisition of additional territory in Macedonia and Thrace and the ex- tension of the kingdom to Asia Minor by the absorption of at least Smyrna and its hinterland. What lias happened instead? Venizelos started out by laying be- fore the entente powers a scheme for the march of a Greek army through Bulgarian territory for an attack upon Constantinople in con- junction with a Franco-British ex- pedition working up Gallipoli pen- insula. The entente allies rejected the proposal, partly because it in- volved an attack upon Bulgaria and partly because they were not pre- pared for a Balkan campaign on the scale which such an operation would have involved. Then came Greece's second op- portunity. Invited by the entente powers to carry out her treaty agreement with Serbia and send an army against the Bulgarian and GREECE 197 Austro-German forces which were attacking that country, the Greek government declined to entertain such an enterprise, on the plea that the allies did not possess a strong enough force to stand a chance of carrying it out successfully. Veni- zelos, who favored the allies' view of the duty of Greece, was dismissed from office. Misfortune after mis- fortune for his country followed his fall. Against Greece's protest the allies landed at Salonica, seized the Greek railroad to the north, and conducted an unsuccessful campaign in Serbia. Recently the allies have ordered the Greek army demobilized, have ve- toed an issue of Greek currency and made other demands on Greece which the censor allows to be in- timated but whose details he will not pass. If Greece will not comply she will starve ; a blockade is now main- tained against her. In the latest phase of its inter- national situation Greece is a gov- ernment without a sovereignty, a nation without an army, without credit, without trade, and dependent for its bread upon the mercy of foreign powers with which it is nominally at peace. A pitiful spec- tacle.— June 22, 1916. THE CONQUEST OF GREECE A country without sovereignty. A king without power. A nation at peace whose territory has been made the battleground of warring powers. Such is the plight to which Greece has been brought by the ruthless de- termination of the Entente allies to force her into war on their side. The successive steps by which Hellas has been bullied, overreached, starved and hounded to a condition of help- lessness by the statesmen and sol- diers of the Entente furnish the ele- ments of an unparalleled national tragedy. The browbeating of King Con- stantine, the "builder of Greater Greece," began with the impending entrance of Turkey into the war. The allies invited him to join them in an expedition against Constanti- nople. He declined the invitation, as he publicly explained, because he was convinced the expedition would end in disaster. And his judgment was amply justified by the fiasco of Gallipoli, one of the most appalling in the history of warfare. Then the following things hap- pened in rapid succession to King Constantine and to his unhappy country : The allies seized the port of Sa- lonica and the country immediately around it. There they established a great military and naval base. King Constantine protested against this flagrant violation of the neutrality of Greece. He foresaw that if the allies used Greek soil for military purposes, the central powers would demand a similar right, and he was anxious above all things to save his country from the ravages of war. The allies scoffed at his protests — and continued the fortification of Salonica. Having established themselves at the main seaport of Greece, the allies seized other islands and territories — Corfu, the line of the railroad to the Serbian border; all the region be- tween Salonica and the Serbian bor- der. Constantine again protested. The allies nullified his protest by a display of superior force, and pro- ceeded with their violations of Greek neutrality. 1!'S THE UK A VEST 3(56 DAYS When the Germanic powers began their great drive into Serbia and Bulgaria struck at the lands of which she bad been robbed by Ser- bia in the second Balkan war, the Entente powers executed a diplo- matic COUp d'etat at Athens. They unearthed a treaty. This treaty, they said, hound Greece to go to the aid of Serbia in east- Serbia were at- tacked by Bulgaria. Constant ine. who had drafted the treaty, denied that it pledged Greece to put its head into the lion's month by under- taking a war. not against Bulgaria but against Germany and Austria. Besides, Constantine pointed out, the allied expedition against Bul- garia and her allies was woefully in- adequate and would result in another fiasco. When the king's judgment o( the military situation had been justified by the precipitate retreat o( the Anglo-French forces before the Bul- garian advance, the allies started out to vent their spleen upon Greece. The Greek constitution meant nothing- to the statesmen oi' the widely advertised democracies which had entered the war avowedly for the purpose o( sustaining the cause oi' democracy in Europe in its strug- gle with Prussian militarism. They swept royal prerogatives aside like cobwebs; juggled minori- ties into majorities: dictated to the palace and to the Chamber oi' Depu- ties alike; dissolved parliament; trampled the laws o( the country un- der foot. They blockaded the principal ports o\' Greece, stopped imports o( foodstuffs and annihilated Greek commerce, the mainstay of the peo- ple. British naval power coerced the Greek people with the menace of starvation. They commanded Greece to de- mobilize its army. The king, pro- testing vainly in the face of superior tone, accepted the ultimatum of the allied generals. They seized the telegraph system of Greece and its post-office ma- chinery. They divested the Greek govern- ment ^-^ its police powers and took police control o( the capital. And now that the allies have de- stroyed tin' machinery of government in Greece they are exerting the last ounce of pressure to force a disor- ganized nation into war. The end is foreshadowed by the publication, permitted by the British censor, that Greece is to join in the hostilities without much further delay. The al- lies will furnish the Greek army with guns and munitions, but it is an- nounced from London that there are to be no pledges of compensation for Greece out of the expected spoils. Greece is to shed her blood without any promise oi' benefit to herself. She must enter a war which she abhors, without knowing what, she is to tight for. Such is the decree o( the high pro- tectors of the weak and the little among nations. Like Ireland, like Egypt, like the Boer republics, (i recce must fall be- fore England's sea power. What mockery in the allies' slogan: "The rights o( small nations!" — Sept. 1-i, 1916. Poland HOPE FOR THE POLES mane world to judge who is respon- _ . a , sible for the starvation of many ll... renaming ol Ufovogeorgieysk S(1(m , s of thoU8and8 of unhappy peo by is old Polish name of Modlin, ,,,,.,„ Poland [Jnless new evidence by the German invaders oi Russia, come8 t() light lll( . ,„,.,,,,,,. ,,„,.,,,,, js significant oi the policy wind. f that calamity will lie, more heav the German administrators are ily ,, |;II1 an ywhere else, upon the adopting toward the Polish race. Bhou i der8 of t he British govern- I Ins detail oi readjustmenl by the menl Germans stands out In sharp con- ,, ,;,,,„, ., RugBiaI] territory pro- ^ast to the first official act of the j ecting [nto Germany, has been Russians after they had entered fought over sill( ,, ,,„; VVill . , M .,, ;m Przemysl, in changing the name oi Annv sllVr ;II , IIV , 1;IS lived ()ir lll( . that ancieni Polish city to Peremysl, coun try, until what had been one of il,, ;' r gw l " lsslim fashion. the granariea of the world became in Posen, since the final division i nca pable of supporting its inhabi of Poland, the Prussians have ap- l;mts f crown the misfortunes of plied measures oi denationalization lh( . wrH ,.|„,| Uuul the i> llssiiins m f ]wU ll:lv :' f?™ e ° l ". r .""''J 1 1 111 :' their last retreat drove off or killed hatred and distrust pi the Polish lh( , ,,,,,,,. That is why we have to Population. II is evident that since day lll( . , i( . k( , nm „. message: "There the war began the Prussians have .„.;. Q0 babiee in p i an d." learned the lesson presented to them Th( . danger vv;ls ,,,.,, lll( . .„,„,,, by the discontent oi their I oheh fel- |M)|)II | ;1 | 1()I , a i 80 ^ould be decimated. ow subjects. II... results ol that ()ll De < cemDer 22 l915 m„ .| (( , )V( ,., lesson are now to I- seen n. a g^n- ,,„,„, of (MII . P(( .,^ i;m relief ( , milIII ,, ? ra] ^ the official attltude sinn, asked Sir Edward Grey to toward the Poles. sanction the shipment of certain h, the unmistakable evidences oi food8tuff8 through the British block- the desire ol Germany to befriend ;|( | ( . foI . ,,,,. p ol f gh |)0|)ll | ;1 , ioI1 . ,,,. the Poles, now plainly apparent not explained that there were in Poland only in conquered Russian Poland ;1M(| German y enough ,.,.,,,,,, :in( , but also in Posen, a gallant race );l(o( . s to ,.,;,.,, Ih( . ,.„,,.,. , (1|( ,,,„,,. with a brilliant past ls beginning [ V;1S fl fsljil| s|loH ()f fat bean t so,,... kinds of breadstuffs and e pecially of condensed milk for the children. Polish societies in the United States stood ready to buy and ship these necessaries. Mr. Events have now come to :i con- Hoover beged Sir K complete t lie circle of steel lery for the purpose of destroying and fire with which the entente enemy defenses and clearing the hopes to surround the central powers ground for infantry advances. A and their allies, (Jen. Sarrail, at notable instance of such preparation Salonica, is reported to be preparing was the long-continued bombard- to attempt an advance against the men! of French positions that pre- German, Austrian and Bulgarian ceded the initial advance at Verdun, lines on the Bulgarian frontier. But the Germans have limited The extraordinary pressure which such preparations to comparatively Sarrail is exerting upon Greece to small sectors, and have directed the hasten the demobilization of the destructive power of their guns at Greek army is an obvious move to enemy positions. prevent the possibility of Greek in- The English, in their present terference with the contemplated speetacular offensive, have extended allied offensive in this region of the the region of intense artillery ac- universal battleground. tivity to a line of twenty miles; they Germany, despite recent Austrian have thrown the curtain of fire not reverses and the consequent ncccs- merely at enemy positions but half sity of stiffening Austrian resistance a mile oir more to the rear of such with a backing of German troops, is positions. Testimony to the value developing on her side a well-dc- of such tactics is contained in the fined counter-offensive on the east stories purporting to have been told front and an energetic defensive at by hungry German prisoners, that all points except Verdun, where the the curtain of fire thrown over their German offensive is going on with- rear by the British gunners shut the out signs of slackening energy. German positions oil' from supplies; Taken as a whole, the movements and reinforcements. Incidentally,, now in progress on all battlegrounds the English have utilized the con- loom large, not only as events that fusion produced by terrific, long- will bring the war to a decisive issue sustained bombardments for the pur- hut as international facts that will poses of raids on enemy trenches, direct the future course of history. This \- development of the — July 1, 1016. use of artillery preparation has re- suited in counter-measures by the Germans, who have been reported BRITISH ARTILLERY for the past few days to be hurry- PREPARATION ^ n S enormous quantities of big guns to their menaced lines. The ulti- The events of the past week on mate result will be an appalling loss the twenty-mile line north of the of life, exceeding anything that this Somme mark the greatest develop- war has yet shown. The intima- ment in the use of artillery that has tions permitted by the British cen- yet been recorded in this great war sor of England's willingness to lose of big guns. Taking a chapter from a few hundreds of thousands of the book of the Germans, the Eng- lives if such a saerifice should be lish artillery experts have gone necessary to the success of the pres- 806 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS ent advance, are a sinister indica- tion of what the world may see in the near futuro. — Julu 3, 1916. THE BARBOPHONE The air is bo full of reports of the growing superiority of allied strat- egy in this war that it is wrong to fail to detail one triumph whose news has scarcely passed the inner eireles of British-French war coun- cils. Strangely enough, the allied ruse has resulted in forcing the en- tire German trench contingents to shave (.lean. Earlier in the war great masses of the German troops were bearded, especially the landstnrm and land- wehr contingents. When the wind blew from the east certain Austra- lians, accustomed to the native mu- sic of hushmen in their own coun- try, detected a strange harmony in the air, proceeding from the German trenches, as of numberless J-lolian harps. Moreover, it was noted that the musical elements varied in the -sounds from different sectors of the German lines. A young Australian from Mel- bourne then set about to devise a jbarbophone, or beard sound-detec- tor. Its success was startling. It magnified the sounds, and. to the inventor's surprise, the sounds from one sector rounded into a clear Ty- rolean yodel, which meant Bavarian troops. From another sector the marvelous new instrument caught folk-songs from Tomerania. the Harz mountains and Thtsseldorf. The process was repeated until the melodies of all Germany were chart- ed, and so the disposition of German regiments along the entire western front revealed. When the Germans discovered the trick it was too late. Private dispatches from London report the British general staff as slyly laughing in its sleeve at the German report that the shaving of the German army is for sanitary rea- sons.— Jvi* •■.':. 1916, CASUALTY LISTS British casualty lists reported iu the month of July in all the war areas totaled 7.084 orticers and 52,591 men. — London Dispatch. This is a proportion of one offi- cer lost to seven and one-half men. It is an unexampled heavy officer loss. Even in peace strength the British army has twenty-eight men for every officer. In war. with the regiments swollen by recruiting, the proportion of officers in the whole regiment is much smaller. Before I lie war broke. Great Brit- ain had an army of 869,000, includ- ing 9,700 officers. That last month should have brought losses of T.084 officers and only 52,591 men is at least extraordinary. The average proportion of casual- ties among officers and men in this war is about one to thirty. Apply- ing this proportion we should come close to the German estimate that the British lost 830,000 in the month. We shall no doubt have either a supplementary list of Brit- ish losses iu enlisted men or else an explanation of the abnormal officer losses.— Aug. 9, 1916, THE ALLIED OFFENSIVE The general co-ordinated offensive by the entente powers since the be- ginning of dune will stand in his- tory as the greatest movement, in geographical extent and in num- bers involved, that ever has been at- THI-; WAR TX THE WEST 207 tempted in war. It was designed to exert such pressure on all fronts upon the central empires as to break down their resistance. The Russians led off in this gen- eral movement in the first week of June. Their problem was to deliver blows of such violence on the Aus- tro-German line as to force the with- drawal of German troop- on a large scale from the western front. With accumulated munitions and a greatly augmented and thoroughly reorganized army, the Russians en- tered upon their task with an en- ergy which seemed to promise suc- cess. The Austrians, who a few weeks previously had begun their offensive against the Italians, were found unprepared on their eastern line. The smashing Russian ad- vance plowed through Bukowina with speed and precision. The ac- tion extended gradually northward until it became evident that the movement was not aimed solely at Austria, but at Germany as well. Probably under the assumption that the German line in France had been sufficiently weakened by with- drawals, the British army, which had been comparatively inactive in France and Belgium since it took the offensive last August and Sep- tember around Hooge, Loos and Hulluch, began the offensive north of the Somme. Its objective was Bapaume, an important railroad cen- ter twelve miles northeast of Albert, and about nine miles from the near- est point on the British line. Simultaneously with the British advance on Bapaume, the French began a movement against Peronne, another railroad center about fifteen miles southeast of Bapaume Pro- ceeding on both banks of the Somme, the French strategists set before themselves the problem of forcing the Germans back in the direction of their own frontier. The Anglo- French line of operations gradually extended to a line about thirty mile- long. These combined operations were frankly characterized by military ex- perts in London and Paris as the opening of the movement that was aimed at the expulsion of the Ger- mans from France. It was pre- dicted at both 1'aris and London that the fall of Bapaume and Pe- ronne would prove the prelude to a general retirement of the German forces in the direction of the old Belgian frontier. Whal lias happened in this region of the allied offensive? After seven weeks of fighting the British have lost not less than 300,- 000 men — a total based upon the British lists of casualties among of- ficers. The French losses it is im- possible to estimate because the war office in Paris maintains the veil of secrecy upon its casualties. Meas- ured by the British losses, however, the French losses cannot be much Less than 200,000. What have the Franco-British strategists accomplished by this lav- ish expenditure of human material? Hardly more than nothing, so far as any achievement of strategic value is concerned. They have gained a territory about forty square miles in extent. For the past two weeks both the British and the French have shown an inability to gain ground. The legend, "There is no change in the situation on the Somme," is becoming a stereotyped feature of the British official re- ports, and to a slightly less extent of the French. Bapaume and Pe- ronne remain in German hands, and 208 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS the German line, after the first buckling under a surprise attack of unprecedented fury by two great na- tions, shows every sign of having fully recovered its firmness. Franco-British £ains like those re- ported from London and Paris to- day suggest no material change in the situation. Advances like these may be expected at any time; but they are. of no telling value as indi- cations of the allies' ability to pierce the German line. In the meanwhile the Germans have kept up their unceasing pound- ing on Verdun. And the develop- ments on the Somme in the past seven weeks have furnished an an- swer to the question. "Why did the Germans attack Verdun?" It was the German advance upon Verdun that has kept two-thirds of the French army busy miles away from the fighting on the Somme. To as- sume that the German high com- mand had failed to anticipate a Franco-British operation at the point of contact between the French and British forces, just north of the Somme, would be to assume that the Germans have had no plan of campaign in France. After the failure of the Franco- British forward movement in the past ten days, the only definite re- sults that may be expected on the Somme is a further swelling of the enormous list of losses of life. The German line has demonstrated its ability to hold back the allied tide. Simultaneously with the gradual checking of the allied offensive on the west front, significant events are coming to pass on the ea^t front. The official bulletins from both Ber- lin and Petrograd for the past month have furnished conclusive evidence of the inability of the Russians to cope with German re- sistance. In the Carpathians, the gateway into the plain of Hungary, with its rich harvests, the Russians are practically at a standstill. And the situation of the Russians, even if they could break into Hungary, is full of danger. So long as they fail to make any impression upon the Germans in the north, the shadow of disaster will hang over them — the shadow of Hindenburg. recently appointed to the general command of the Austro-German operations. It will be remembered that it was a series of defeats in the northern sec- tor that brought about the great retreat of the Russians from the Carpathian line last year after they had approached much nearer to the plain of Hungary than they have now. History has a way of repeat- ing itself. The Italian successes on the Ison- zo. admitted even in Rome to pos- sess greater moral than military value, need not be considered in any estimate of the general situation. A retreat of the Russians from the Carpathians and a consequent re- lease of Austrian forces in that sec- tor would undo in a month what it has taken the entire Italian army more than a year to accomplish. — Aug. IT, 1916'. CAN THE ALLIES PAY THE PRICE? The latest estimate of Anglo- French losses on the Somme dis- closes the appalling price which the entente is paying for it? victories. The Germans say that between July 1 and September 15 the British have lost 350.000 men in killed, wounded and captured, and the French have lost 150.000, making a total of THE WAE IN THE WEST 20!) 500,000 in less than eleven weeks of lighting. Granting that the German figures may be an overestimate of enemy losses, and deducting 20 per cent, from the total on that account, the price which France and Great Brit- ain have paid for victories is still staggering. And what do the vic- tories amount to? The avowed ob- ject of the offensive is to drive Ger- many out of France and Belgium. How near have the Franco-British sacrifices come to the accomplish- ment of their purpose ? That question is easily answered by a glance at the extent of terri- tory which the English and French have wrested from Germany since the beginning of the great "drive." That territory is not a matter of estimate or of speculation. It is ex- actly measurable by miles and yards. The amount is 480 square miles. And that area is just 3 per cent, of the soil of France and Belgium which the Germans have held, with slight fluctuations, since the battle of the Marne. At that rate of progress how many millions of lives will the allies have to sacrifice in order to achieve their avowed purpose? Can France and England pay the price? Could any four great nations pay the price ? To be sure, the Germans are los- ing in man-power in this terrible slaughter. But their losses are not so heavy as are those of the Franco- British armies. The Germans are fighting defensive battles, and they are calculating to a nicety the num- ber of men they can afford to lose in order to frustrate British or French movements. On the Somme, as in all previous wars in all history, it is the attacking side that is losing far more heavily than the defenders. It would be reasonable to assume that, as a smashing blow designed to reverse the fortunes of war, the Somme offensive is a failure, and the situation on the west front is practically a deadlock. A similar condition of stalemate is developing on the Volhynian and Galician fronts. The extent of the failure of the Eussian "drive" as a decisive factor of the war can be realized when it is remembered that after all the thrusts at the German- Austrian line, which have cost the Russians dearly for the past five months, the Russians have succeeded in recovering considerably less than 1 per cent, of the territory which the Austro-Germans took from them in the gigantic offensive of last year. And the best evidence of the failure of the Eussian general staff to break down Austro-German resistance is to be seen in the fact that the Eussian offensive, after five months of ter- rific effort and characteristically Eussian disregard of life, is at a standstill. Appearances indicate strongly, therefore, that on both west and east fronts the allied offensive has fallen so far short of the expected results that it may be regarded as a failure. The Italian successes are too trivial to count in any general summing up of results. Eemains the Balkan region. Here the latest acquisition of the entente powers is proving more of a liabil- ity than an asset. Since her en- trance into the war after two years of watchful waiting, Eoumania has lost more territory than she has gained. Her communications by sea with Eussia are seriously threatened by the success of Mackensen's blows on the Tchernavoda-Constanza line. 310 THE GKAVEST 366 PAYS The Roumanian capital is in increas- ing danger ot a Bulgar-German at- tack. The momentum of the Rou- manian dash into Transylvania has been stopped, and the Austro-Ger- mans are already beginning a move- menl which offers grave possibilities for the Roumanian Forces in Tran- sylvania. The indications are that in the southeastern corner o( Europe the decisive battles of the war will be fought. The results o( the opera- tion so far distinctly favor the Ger- mans ami their allies. Despite the advance of the French ami the Ser- bians againsl the extreme right of the Bulgarians, the allies have not even begun the task o( driving Bul- garia out o( Serbia ami breaking the "bridge" between Berlin and Bagdad. They are still fighting on Greek soil, and at the present rate of progress it would take a Long time to drive the Bulgarians hack to the frontiers which they traced with the sword in the previous Bal- kan campaign. And delay in this instance will bring an ally to the central powers. That ally is winter — a white and severe Balkan winter — which will he felt much more keenly by the French and English on the offensive than by the Bulgarians on the de- fensive. With the break-up o( winter will come (he real test o( the Balkan campaign. And that test, unless all signs fail, will also he the test of the great struggle as a whole. — Sept. 83. 1016." The War in the East MEN AGAINST MACHINES As the Russian offensive against Germany and Austria-Hungary pro grosses if becomes increasingly evi- dent that the Russian commanders still have men to llin^- at the ene my's lines. The purpose of this movement is uncertain at this stage of the operations. It may be the beginning of mi attempt to drive the Austro Germans out of < lour land ;iikI Poland. The probability is, however, that it is a demonstra- tion in force, designed to embar- rass the German genera] staff in Its assaults on Verdun. Whenever the sillies have felt the German pressure with especial weight in the western theatre, to Russia has been intrust ed the task of creating a diversion in an attempt to lighten the Francd- British military burden in Prance ;iikI Belgium. And Russia is placing her chief reliance for the success 01 this move- ment upon the sheer force of num- bers. There arc plenty of men in Russia- -the great majority of them gOOd men, who, hecaiisc of the OUT den of oppression, have had no op- portunity to show the things that are in tJiein. But, good or bad, there are men by the million in the < 'zar's empire available lor the uses of a military bureaucracy to whom hu- man life is the least, of considera- tions. So these men, who, under happier conditions, would have made valu- able contributions to civilization, are being flung in great masses against the German intrenchments. And these men, d ispafches from I'efro- grad indicate with an iiiimislakahle vaunt of Russian courage, are used for the most part, in bayonet charges. The bayonet is the least expensive of all weapons. It docs not, consume cosily ammunition. 1 1 does not in volve the employment, of vast, am munition trains, as the machine gun and the heavy artillery pieces do. It, requires less skill, less brains, a lower grade of industrial organiza- I ion than do I he machine guns and the howitzers. Moreover, the RuS- sians are short, of artillery. Much of their original supply was taken away by the Germans in the German advance into Poland and ( lourland, and a, great part of that which re- mained was badly worn hy excessive use. Therefore hundreds of thousand of Russians who have had no sort of chance in life are being flung to death, for the hayoncl, is a poor weapon against machine guns defending intrenched position equipped with the most formidable instruments of dest met ion - -the ma- chinery with which German science and industry have been able to equip Germany's armies. If is a struggle of men against machinery, and the heavy toll of lives which has been exacted h.v the machinery up to tin tage of the Russian offensive indi- cates the inequality of the contest. .) I .) THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS Bui Russia has more men mill lions of them and at the discre 1 1. >n o( high command she may i ontinue to sacrifice them in an en deavor to dist ract Germany for si ra logic purposes. Thai is Russia's contribution to the war resources of her more highly organized allies. Nov. •.'■"'. 1915. ' THE AUSTRIAN OFFENSIVE The shadow of important coming events is spreading over the Long line of contact between Italy and Austria Hungary, in tins region o( military activities more blood has been spilt since ttaly entered the w ar than in any other theatre, w u h the solo exception o( Verdun, The [talians, with a resolute spirit which tloos them credit, have been hurling their strength against well nigh in superable natural barriers, manned l'\ no loss resolute defenders. Their progress lias been so slow as to be charat teri ed as "negligible" by some military observers. An officer o( the Italian general staff, in describing the natural strength of the Austrian positions, said that "it Beems as it' God had built gigantic bulwarks to guard Austria from invasion along the ison o." Behind these natural ramparts Austria, with one fourth o( the forces that face her, lias carried on a defense with a notable degree of success. Now the operations are en- tering a new phase. Austria-Hun- gary, evidently assured o( her ability to resist Russian pressure on Galicia and Bukowina, has massed a great army against the Italians, in its initial movements in the new often sive, tins army has demonstrated a striking power which presages a bloodier struggle than any which has yet been recorded in that shambles o\' two nations. II' tho Auslrians Bucceed in pounding their way into the plains o( hah . the Italian gen- eral staff will be confronted with a difficult problem, chiefly on account of the Austrian superiority in heavy artillery, which the Skoda works are turning out in enormous quantities. On the other hand, a serious reverse for tho invaders might well be the signal foi an Austrian disaster, as the defeated Austrian forces begin their retreat through the exceedingly difficult country which would lie be- fore thein. In either event, one of the de- cisive operations of the war is now going on in the Austro Italian re- gion an operation which may have an important bearing upon tho out- come of the struggle as a whole. — .1/,;// 80, L916, THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE The rapid Russian advance into Asia Minor is becoming an impor- tant fa< tor in the war. [Tnless the ottoman armies check this extraor- dinary progress, the map o\' Asia Minor will figure as ono o\ tho most difficult problems on the green table o( the peace conference, This pos- sibility loomed Large with tho taking o( Trebijond, It became a prob- ability in tho light o( yesterday's nows that a Cossack detachment] operating through Persian territory, had effected a junction with the British expedition under Gen, Six Percy Lake in the valley o( the Tigris, thirty-five miles south of Kut el Anitira. There appears to be every reason to suppose that the Kussian armies in Asia Minor have been organiied TIIK WAR IN THE BAST 'l.: and equipped on a scale sufficiently • I'M ive to beat down any opposi- tion which the Turks might be able to offer. VV lien the Russian offen Hive on the German-Austrian front was brought to ;i standstill la I February, the Bu ian general staff poured troops across the Caucasian border in overwhelming numbers. At the moment when the Briti h were facing the inevitable surrender at K nI el A mara, everal Bui ian armies were pouring southward and westward through Persia and Ar menia in the direction of the head of the Persian Gulf and of Smyrna and < 'onstanl inople, This movement was directed at the attainment of an object which I'n Ian policy has pursued wild persistence for centuries the ac quisition of an open port at Con tantinople. The failure of the Bri1 isli campaign against Bagdad has been remedied by the Busi ian suc- cesses, Bagdad is the commercial and strategic heart of Mesopotamia, and Mesopotamia forms the barrier between fcne Briti h possessions in northern A frica and those in we I ern Asia. Mesopotamia in Briti h bands would form the "bridg which would connect Egypt with [ndia, through the southern portion of Persia, which was allotted ;i England's sphere of influence by the terms of the Busso-British agree ni'-ii i signed two or three years be- fore the outbreak of the present war. The service- which I'm i;i i- ren dering to her allies are enhancing her importance in the Quadruple Entente. Already Bhe ii Looming up ;i- the dominating factor in the international situation. In the word, of BUery <'. Stowell, asso- ciate professor of law al Columbia [Tni varsity: * * * if Germany Is really ready tor peace, Russia will then \»- tbe crua of tbe whole question aod the mosl diffl • nil peace problem of iii<- peace congress to solve. But even if the central powers should dominate the council- of the conference, Bussia would hold a pawn of the greate I alue a po ei sor of Me opotamia. That high \y desirable territory between the Tigri and the Euphratei ha been the object of Germany's political and commercial calculal ion for half a generation. The Bagdad railway in only a phase of the enterprises which German foresight has been pushing or contemplating in her oear eastern policy for twenty years pa i. The value of Germany's "bridge" through Serbia and Bul- garia wa de igned to conned, Ber lin not only with ( on tantinople but with the mouth of the Tig] i and the head of the Persian Gulf. Bui i. in ui. i tery of Mesopotamia would detract greatly from the value of i hi "bridge" to Germany. In Europe, Bn ia' l" e of ter- ritory to Germany are enormou Concerning Germany's purposes as to the future of this territory, ( lhan cellor von Bethmann-Hollweg said in bis addre in the Beichstag on April 5: <'iin be (Asquith) possibly exped Germany of her free will to band over ;i^;iin to tbe rule of reactionary Bussia the people between tbe Baltic Sea and the Vblbynian swamps, whether they be Poles, Lithuanian . Baits or Livonians, nil these people whom tbe central powers tin ve liberated? Never ! And concerning the future of Poland : The Poland from which tbe Bussian tcbinovnik Bed, extorting bribei as be went; the Poland from which tin- Rus- sian Cossacks retreated, burning and pillaging that Poland Is no more. Oven 21 I THE GRAVEST 866 PAYS members of fin* Pimm have frankty ad- init ifd (inn tiu-v cannot imagine the re- turn *>t' the tchinovnik to 1 1* «* place where meantime the German, Austrian and Pole have honestly labored Eor ti« v unfor- tunate land. [f tlu ( Russians had not succeed- ed in seizing the Turkish territory which they now have, they would have gone into the peace conference empty handed. As it is, they will have importanl objects o( barter bo offer tn the long bargaining which will follow the furling of the battle flags. In every way, therefore, the Rus- sian victories in Asia Minor must be regarded as events o( greal tm- portance in the European struggle. — May 23, L916. RUSSIA TO THE RESCUE The Russian offensive on the oast front represents the first result, on a large scale, o\' the recent amal- gamation of the general stall's of the entente allios for the adoption of a general instead o( a local plan of campaign. That this offensive is being attempted on an enormous scale and with adequate striking power may be inferred from the official annoniuviuoni at Petrograd yesterday that the Dumber of pris- oners captured so far in the drive against the Austrian linos has been more than 25,000 men. It is obvious that the Russian pressure upon Austria is the out- come of the decision of the entente council of war to create a diver- sion in order to relieve the Italian armies, subjected to smashing blows by the Anstrians for the past month. Some such diversion has been fore- told in the dispatches from Rome for the past fortnight. That Italy needed help, and needed it badly, was made apparent by a glance at the Austro-ltalian lino of contact, which was constantly shifting south- ward, dospito the utmost efforts of the Italian commanders to hold back tho avalanche that swept down from the Alps and has been nullifying in days the military efforts which Italy had made in tho preceding twelve months. Tho unity of connsol between the western powers of the entente and their northeastern ally has heen curiously hot rayed by one of those accidents in war which sometimes disclose the secrets of strategists. Kitchener, accompanied by several members of his staff, was on his way to Archangel when tho torpedo or the mine in his course ended his life. The British generalissimo was undoubtedly bound for Petrograd for a consultation with the Russian generals on a common plan of cam- paign, perhaps for a better under- standing of tho methods and pur- poses of the general offensive at which hints have been received from London at various times since last w inter. Whether the Russian offensive is Only a phase o( such a combined ef- fort to force the common enemies o\' the entente back to their own frontiers may be made apparent in the next few weeks. — June 7, 1916, THE RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE In its present development the Russian offensive looms large as one of the great events of the war which may have a deciding effect upon its outcome. In ten days of fighting which began on a front of about 100 miles and is rapidly ex- tending northward, the Russians THE WAi; IN TilK EAST •l 1 5 have inflicted losses upon the Aus- trian! which may well cause the gravest apprehension at Vienna as well as iii Berlin. The apparent inability of the Austrian* to offer effective opposi- tion to the Russian advance is the result, partly of the fact that they are outnumbered by their foes in the ratio of something like a million men to 600,000, and partly to the fact that the blow descended upon the Austro-Hungarians like a bolt from the blue. It U becoming in- creasingly evident that Gen, Brussi- lofl has been making the most com- plete preparation for the present of- fensive for months past. How these preparations, along a line of ;it least a hundred miles, could have escaped the observation of the Auh- tro-Hungarian intelligence service is one of the mysteries of the situation. It was "" f until after the Russian steam-roller bad been pressing down toward Czernowitz and l>:m- berg for a week that the Austrian commanders, reinforced by German strategy and German troops, began to -bow some signs of effective re- sistance. Thai the Russians are at last feeling the force of this resist- ance i- evidenl from the retarded rate of their progress in the i>a«t three or four da In the meanwhile, however, the Russians are not only demonstrat- ing their continued ability to cope witli the Austrian opposition, but are throwing large masses of men against Von Hindenburg's lines north of Lutsk. These last-men- tioned operations may be the be- ginning of a serious attempt to drive the Germans out of Poland, or they may be strategic feints de- signed to prevent the dispatch of German troops in large bodies to the aid of the hard-beset Austrians in the region between the Pripet marshes and the Roumanian bor- der. To the Hungarian people the prospect of a second menace of a Russian invasion over the Carpath- ians presenl ;i national peril of the first magnil ude. It is no secret that there has been a strong sentiment for peace in Hungary for the pant three or lour months. Confronted wiib ;i new Russian sweep in the direction of the plain of Hungary, the Hungarians are now rallying to a fresh struggle at a time when they have not recovered from the fatigues and losses of the original Russian invasion. The continued success of Brussi- loff* a tonishing enterprise will de- pend upon the one element wbieb worked Russia's undoing last year. Of men, Russia has practically an Unlimited number. Her ability to obtain and forward supplies of am- munition on I be scale on which they are now being supplied to the armies at the front is not -'. cer- tain. True, Russia's communica- tions are better in 1916 than they were in L915. The port, of Arch- angel is open, and the railroad lines leading from that point have been greatly Improved and amplified. But whether the existing sources of sup- ply and the route- of transportation will prove adequate to the demand when the present accumualtion is exhausted, is the question which will decide the SUCCeSS or failure of the va-t movement under way to erush Austria. In the event of a breakdown of Russia's system of supply, a diss trOUS retreat like the one of l( year would be the only alternative. — June I.",, 1916. 316 THE (il.WYKST 3(i(J DAYS GERMAN CHECK TO RUSSIA Tin' ultimate outcome of the Rus- sian offensive movement now de- pends, not upon the operations of the Austrian*, but upon events in the north. For a week tin' Ger- mans under Field Marshal von llin- denburg and Gens. Linsingen and von Bothmer have been engaged with the Russians. These command- ers have been feeling out the strength of the opposing forces. The art ions foughl show that the Russians' movements againsl the Germans, far from being a feint de- signed io confuse the German strate- gists, was a bona-fide attempt to Launch againsi the Germans north of Lutsk the successful offensive which has netted the capture of Czernowitz and a Large number of prisoners — the exact number does not appear to he determinable — to the invaders. This attempt, in (lie lighl of the most recent * official bulletins from Petrograd, does not appear to be proving successful. On the road to Kovel. the key point of communica- tion between the German and Aus- trian forces, the Russians have not only failed to make 1 any progress, but they actually have been forced back by the German counter-at- tacks. At other points the Germans are demonstrating their ability to hold the Russians in check. Even in the southernmost region o( the operations, where the Aus- trians were caught by one of the greal surprises of this war of sur- prises, the progress o( the Russians is much slower than it was at the beginning of last week. This fact is expressly admitted by the War Office in Petrograd, In view o( these military facts. the operations as a whole have not reached a stage that would justify some <>f the extravagant unofficial claims emanating from Petrograd. A strong German offensive, which does not appear at all improbable, would menace the Russian right Hank and duplicate the strategic situation which last year compelled the Russians to withdraw rapidly from Galicia after they had ad- vanced to the Carpathians. — June VI, L916, THE MAGYARS The Magyars or Eungarians have performed two notable services in .western civilization. Coming from Asia, they first acted as a butler against the onslaughts of the Turk. In the last half century they have served as a wedge between the Russian Slavs and the Slavic races on the Balkan peninsula — Serbs, Bulgarians, Montenegrins and the Slavonic elements in the southern part of the Austrian empire, such as Dalmatia and Croatia. The Magyar wedge was the physical hindrance to the realization of Pan- Slavism, the movement to Russian- ize Kurope east o\' the Adriatic. Without understanding this no out 1 can realize what it means in Petrograd to read that the Russian army is at the Carpathian passes looking down upon the plains of Hungary. It means the open road to Constantinople. It means the Inevitable dominance of Russian civilization in Europe. Whatever our sympathies may be in the world war, civilized neutral nations cannot but hope that the Magyar dam will bold, as it has held' in the past. — July 81, 1016. THE WAR IN TIIK HAST 217 HINDENBURG There is magic in the name of Eindenburg. Germany, confronting a complication of her military prol> lem by the latest developments in the Balkans, has received with ;in impressive! demonstration of enthu- siasm his appointment as chief of staff. The rugged, powerful personality of Eindenburg appeals mightily to the imagination of his countrymen. His great feat in pounding the Kus- siiuis out of Bast Prussia and all the uiiv hack to Hie Dvina h;is already made him a tradition of military force and thoroughness. In the Napoleonic war the whis- per "The emperor is here!" many ;i lime sent an electric thrill through the French armies facing decisive hattles. The Herman nation has re- sponded in similar manner to the name of Hindenhurg. — Aug. 31, 1916. The Italian Front ITALY AND THE ENTENTE Whatever doubt may have existed about the future course of Italy as a member of the quadruple en- teute lias been dissipated h\ the re- iteration of all the powers included in thai grouping o\' their purpose to maintain their common mililan a< i ion to i he end of the Btruggle. The value of Italy's oontinued ad herence to the purposes of the al- liance is somewnal modified, how- ever, by the previous declaration i>\ Baron Sonhino, Italian minister of foreign affairs, thai Itah will confine her participation in t he Balkan campaign to furnishing sup plies to the hard pressed Serbians. Tins resolution is evidently Hi* 1 prin- ciple upon which the supplemental agreemenl anion:; the members of the quadruple entente is based. The presence of a considerable number of Italian troops in the Balkans, or their participation in any operations outside o( the rane already occupied by Italy in Al bania, would offer so many hazards to the entente that it is unlikely that (ireat Britain and France could consenl to the reinforcement "' their Balkan armies l>\ an Italian conl ingent. To begin with, the appearance of an Italian annv in the vicinity technicality 1 1, merely imparts a legal tatus to b military aci already accomplished the appearance of [talian troops against the Germans in Macedonia H probably doe not fore hadow any material addition to the enemie wiih whom Germany is now dealing on various fronti , ( lutside of I he pari winch she is playing in the Balkans and ii may be ai limed to be ;i ni'M i<; ,i |iiui i i.iily cannot di veil her activii ies from I he A ustrian horder to any greai extent. She need; all her ; i \ ; 1 1 1 : 1 1 > I < • men on the I'roni wheel' mIic has been hammering away at Austria for fifteen months wii ii rei ults which are accurately dc cribed in Berlin and ;ii Vienna as in: igniflcani , in ;i military sense Italy's break with Germany is an incident, [n an economic sense il- ih an event, [taly, like Roumania, has been largely financed by German money ;ind developed hy (Jerimin cnlei pii e. Again, like Roumania, [taly would like to be rid of German financial control. Wh&i easier way of accomplishing Ihin purpose than hy i he conflscal ion of ( ferman prop erty ? Laws are ileni during war. rtaly Ihih somewhat delayed her declarai ion againsi Germany. There 1h ii reason for thai a entimental reason, There are still men living ill [taly who ou;dil lo reiiiemher that they owe Venetia to whai in now Germany. I n i he war of 1866 [taly was soundly thrashed hy Aus- i mi on land and sea. But her ally, Prussia, was victorious over the ame antagonii t. Prussia compelled Au:-t ria io cede Venetia to the I tal iam . 1 1 was a free gi fi to Duly. 220 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS In 1911, when Italy started her adventure in Libia, Germany re- mained her friend. The world was given to understand that the Triple Alliance stood behind Italy. Again Italy made a successful step toward the achievement of what she re- garded as her destiny. As in 1866, she did it with the help of Ger- many. But 1911 is a remote date in these swiftly moving times. As for 1866, it exists only in the text- books. Italy has forgotten it com- pletely.— A ugust 29, 1916. In the Balkans BULGARIA, THE DRAW- BRIDGE Bulgaria, the drawbridge of the Balkans, is trembling on its pivot. If it decides to cast its lot with the Teutonic powers it furnishes an open way between Turkey and Aus- tria and forms the connecting link in the empire of influence that Ber- lin now seeks to build by way of Vienna, Sofia, Constantinople and over the Bagdad railroad to Asia Minor and the plains of Mesopo- tamia. The pioneer work of this gigantic task was done long ago. The visit of the Kaiser to Jerusa- lem was the symbol of a later march to that point that may find its ful- fillment now. If Bulgaria follows the appeal of the Czar and declares her loyalty to the Pan- Slavic ideals, she opens a way from Greece to Bussia. The consequences of this in the course of the war and in its after) develop- ment will be tremendous. The Bal- kan states are likely to consolidate into a league of powers, subordinat- ing their own internal differences in order to present a solid front to the outside world. This league, if Bul- garia yields, will come under the protectorate of Bussia. Teutonic expansion toward Asia Minor and the near Orient will be checked. Such a league would have to con- solidate its energies and present a strong front in the future. Even though defeated now, it is hardly conceivable that two nations so prolific in men and capital re- sources as Germany and Austria should abandon an effort to find an outlet for trade expansion and sup- port for her surplus population. These powers feel that a sphere of influence in the world outside of Europe is theirs by right of their growing numbers and of the cul- tural developments that they have attained. If thwarted by diplomatic defeat or military check in the pres- ent war, forces beyond the control of any individual or group of indi- viduals that are urging those na- tions on will compel renewed ef- forts within a decade or two. From their standpoint they feel they must fight until the demands that seem to them legitimate are recognized, and this national ambi- tion will not be abandoned unless they are crushed completely. This is a fact that must be reckoned with in forecasting the future. Bulgaria's decision is of more than momentary importance. Much of the history that will be written in our generation, and the war ex- perience of the next decade will de- pend on Bulgaria's decision. The drawbridge is ajar. We watch to see which way it will move. Or will it stand where it is? — Oct. 5, 1915. 222 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS ROUMANIAN NEUTRALITY The announcement by the Bou- manian cabinet, after a careful consideration of all the circum- stances of the situation up to date, to maintain Boumania's neutrality, is understandable on either of two grounds — an uncertainty as to just what Eoumania wants in the way of compensation, and an apparent lack of exact knowledge as to who will win the war. In the first place, Eoumanians are unable to agree whether they want a part of Austro-Hungarian Tran- sylvania, which is organized on the basis of individual ownership of land, or Eussian Bessarabia, where the feudal system prevails and the mass of the people are tenants at the pleasure of the owning nobility. The advocates of the present Eou- manian system of land control, which is almost identical with that of Bessarabia, would much prefer the acquisition of Bessarabia to the absorption of Transylvania, on the ground that the inclusion of the latter province within the boun- daries of Eoumania would add a disturbing factor to the existing forces of discontent. Then, again, it is becoming in- creasingly apparent that Eoumania, with its traditional cautiousness, is unwilling to throw in its lot with either side until it has found out who is more likely to be the win- ner. The Eoumanian army, despite its unopposed progress into Bul- garia in 1913, at a time when Bul- garia was at war with four other nations, is an untried quantity as a factor in real military operations. There is a distinct impression abroad that the Eoumanian forces, made up for the most part of a dis- contented peasantry which does not own the land it cultivates, is not a formidable weapon of offense. Now, the Eoumanians, after the Scotch, are the canniest people in Europe, and it is quite reasonable to suppose that they will take no chances that are not fully war- ranted by a good and substantial assumption of success. — Oct. 18, 1915. PAN-SLAVISM, A GREAT WORLD PROBLEM Russia, as the Greatest of All Slav Nations, Center of Mighty Movement By Svetozar Tonjoroff. There are more than two hundred millions of Slavs in the world, of whom a good three-fifths are in- cluded within the boundaries of the Eussian empire. The unification of the remainder of the race, inhabiting parts of Austria-Hungary, the Bal- kans and Germany, with that part of it which is under the Eussian flag, has been the problem of Eus- sian nationalism since Peter the Great. Even in Eussia itself the process of unification has not been com- pleted. The 25,000,000 little Bus- sians or Euthenians of the Ukraine are not yet assimilated with the mass of great Eussians of Vieliko- Eussi, constituting the bulk of the population of the empire. No more have the 10,000,000 Poles, nor the 7,000,000 white Eussians or Bielo- Eussi. Outside of Eussia there is a sea of Slavs extending westward through east Eussia well into Germany, and IN THE BALKANS 223 from the Galician border southwest- ward to the Adriatic and southeast- ward through Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria to Adrianople and a little beyond. The Outlying Slavs. These outlying Slavs are: The Poles of German Posen, the Bo- hemians, Poles, Croatians, Slovaks and Slovenes of Austria-Hungary, the Serbs of Serbia and the Bul- garians of Serbia, and Greek Mace- donia and of Bulgaria. The efforts which have been car- ried on from Petrograd to prepare the ground for the eventual welding together of all these unabsorbed Slavic populations constitute an in- teresting story. Eussia's systematic propaganda among these Slavic nationalities found its inception under that sum- mary of Russian world policy which suggested to an imaginative French- man the historic forgery known as the "will" of Peter the Great, where- in the tendency of Russian expan- sion under the name of the Pan- Slavic movement is for the first time definitely set down. In many of its manifestations the Russian aspiration to leadership of the Slavic world has worked inci- dental benefits to subjugated or op- pressed nations. Under the com- bined motive of racial and religious zeal, Russia has played an important or exclusive part in the liberation of Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria from the Turkish yoke. In the Austrian provinces, and to a less extent in German Posen (Polish Posnan), the movement di- rected from Russia has been carried on through educational and relig- ious agencies. In church matters the Russian agents have endeavored to strengthen or propagate the Rus- sian Orthodox (or Eastern) confes- sion as against Catholicism or Lutheranism. Pan-Slavism and Catholicism. In its religious aspect the Pan- Slavist movement is of vital interest to the Catholic Church, as the Rus- sian conception of race unity dis- tinctly implies religious absorption under the authority of the Russian Church. The fact that the popula- tion of Russia has increased far more rapidly during the past century than that of any other European state would indicate the importance of this issue to the Catholic Church. Rudolph Vrba, a Slavic ethnologist, points out that in 1780 Russia had a population of onlv 26,800. In 1912 it was esti- mated at 170,000,000. Catholic authorities on the bor- ders of Russia are asking themselves whether, in a generation or two, this vast growth of non-Catholic popula- tion will not have the effect of over- whelming the contiguous Catholic peoples. In the middle of the nineteenth century Russian zeal, backed by the state, created the machinery of the Slavic Benevolent Association of Moscow, of which the chief function was the education of non-Russian Slavs in Russia and the aid of Slavic orthodox communities outside of Russia. This organization, with the aid of the political forces back of it, put a successful stop, in 1876, to the Bulgarian movement toward Rome, known as the "Uniate" move- ment, as a protest against the con- duct of the Greek clergy, which at 224 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS that time was in control of the Bul- garian church. In the same manner, on the eve of the outbreak of the great war, Rus- sian influences were exerting them- selves in Galicia to discourage a similar movement toward union with the Catholic Church, which, however, is an accomplished fact. Russian Success in Serbia. In Serbia the activities of the Russian propaganda have met with full success. Diplomats who were stationed in Belgrade during the first Balkan war recall that Baron Hartwig, the Russian minister to Serbia at that time, not only acted as the adviser of the king and of Pashitch, the premier, but fre- quently attended cabinet councils when grave matters of national policy were under discussion. The Poles of Austria responded less readily to the Russian represen- tations, and the Ruthenians, a large proportion of whom are Catholics or Uniates, showed only a partial inclination to sympathize with the tendencies of Pan- Slavism, while many of them emphatically opposed 1 it. A current manifestation of the of- ficial Russian attitude toward the passionate desire of the Ruthenians to maintain their race entity is fur- nished by the rigid prohibition which Petrograd has placed upon the plans of the Little Russians to celebrate the centenary of their poet Shevchenko — one of the brightest names upon the roster of Russian letters — as a great national anni- versary. The chief obstacle to the Russian movement outside of Russia devel- oped in Bulgaria, the country into which the Slavic Benevolent Society, since transferred from Moscow to Petrograd— from the religious to the political center of Russia — has em- ployed its best resources for nearly a half century. Bui gars Crave Democracy. The popular tendency in Bulgaria is strongly directed toward popular government — popular in form and in fact — the exact antithesis to the existing system in Russia, which now appears to be undergoing a change owing to pressure from be- low. In Russian Poland itself the Pan- Slavist movement has been greatly retarded by the summary policy of race oppression which the govern- ment has been applying there for more than a centurv. The Poles of Russia deeply resent the attempt of the Russian administration to sup- press the Polish language in schools, in churches and in all public places. One of the features of the pro- gramme of reform advanced by the Douma is a material amelioration of the treatment accorded to the peo- ples of the border provinces, includ- ing not only the Poles and Ukrain- ians but the Germans of the Baltic region, who have retained their race consciousness despite their partici- pation in the highest phases of the Russian military and civil admin- istration. The effect of the adoption of a more liberal policy toward non-Rus- sian Slavs living within Russia will be well worth watching in the im- mediate future of the Russian struggle toward democracy and race- unitv under the scepter of the czars.— Oct. 28, 1915. IN THE BALKANS 225 CZAR OF BULGARIANS STRIK- ING PERSONALITY Ferdinand Hardest Worker in the Balkans — Ambitious for His Country By. Svetozar Tonjoroff. There was some wonderment in the European capitals in 1909, when after the rejection by Bulgaria of the last vestige of Turkish sover- eignty the announcement was made at Sofia that Ferdinand of Saxe- Coburg and Botha, until that time Prince of Bulgaria, had elected to revive the ancient title of the Bul- garian kings, "Czar of the Bulga- rians." As there were a couple of millions of Bulgarians at that time under Turkish rule, in addition to the Bulgarian colonies in Russia, Rou- mania and Austria-Hungary, the in- clusive designation adopted by the Bulgarian sovereign as the head of the independent state furnished ground for much speculation and not a little apprehension, as indi- cating ambitions and aspirations which at some time might prove in- convenient to some of his neighbors. Ferdinand's Calm Audacity. Czar Ferdinand, however, carried his point with the calm audacity which has marked his career since he was called to the Bulgarian throne iin 1887, upon the abdication of Prince Alexander of Battenberg, who had "laid his crown at the feet of the imperial throne of Russia" and had lost it at the nod of Czar Alexander III. Ferdinand's career in the country which elected him to its vacant throne has been marked by a vig- orously conducted struggle — first for the achievement of the inde- pendence of Bulgaria from the Turkish suzerainty which the con- gress of Berlin had imposed upon it after its liberation in 1878, and then to the unification of the Bul- garians of Macedonia and of Eastern Roumelia, which had been severed from the newly created principality by the same congress, with those of Bulgaria. The act of union between Bul- garia and eastern Roumelia became final and irrevocable in 1909, when Ferdinand proclaimed himself czar in Bulgaria and eastern Roumelia, and the powers acquiesced in his step. Ferdinand's attempt to carry out the next phase of his programme by the annexation of the Bulgarian por- tion of Macedonia was frustrated by the action of Serbia, Greece, Rou- mania and Montenegro in the war that followed the expulsion of Tur- key from Macedonia by the allied armies of the Balkan league in the war of 1912-13. At the end of Bulgaria's unsuc- cessful struggle with her former allies, reinforced by Roumania and Turkey, Czar Ferdinand in a proc- lamation to his army announced that the problem of the liberation of the Bulgarians of Macedonia yet remained to be solved. Bulgaria's operations against Serbia at the present moment are an aftermath of that proclamation. Bulgaria's Progress. Ferdinand from the beginning of his reign gained the reputation of being the most astute of the Balkan rulers, as well as the most persistent 00 '4(5 THE GRAYEST 366 PAYS in carrying our his plans. Much that has been accomplished in Bulgaria in education, industry, social legis- lation and military organization since 18S? is due to the initiative of the czar, who at the outset placed before himself the task of bringing Bulgaria, only recently liberated from 'Turkish rule and at that time living in the middle ages: abreast of the European states. British and French critics oi Ferdinand and Bulgaria wrote vol- umes before the outbreak of the war to -how that Ferdinand and his Bulgarians represented to a large measure the hope of democracy and civili ation in southeastern Euro] \ grandson of Louis Philippe, of France, Ferdinand was a familiar figure in the streets oi Paris before ■ the outbreak oi the first Balkan war. and followed with close interest the work oi the scientists of France as well as those of Germany and Aus- tria-Hungary. The czar oi the Bulgarians him- self has achieved eminence among European scientists, especially in the domain oi botany. A monumental work on the botany of Brazil, of which he is the co-author, is to be found in European libraries. It was published in L883, when Ferdi- nand was only twenty-two years old. and is entitled "Die Botanische Ausheute von den Reisen dor Prinzen August und Ferdinand naeh Brasilien, IS79." lie is a gentleman farmer on a considerable scale, after the best English models, and has devoted considerable attention to the im- provement of the breed of cattle, horses and sheep in his kingdom. Among his literary contributions to Bulgaria is the publication of a series of volumes entitled "Minister- ski Sbornik." which contains a complete collection of the folk-lore and folk-songs oi Bulgaria and Macedonia, taken down in the dia- lects of the various localities which originated them. Twenty volumes oi this work have already been is- sued under the direction o( the min- istry of education at Sofia, and the collection of further material is still going on. not having been inter- rupted even by the stress of the two Balkan wars and of the present struggle. Czar's Soldier Sons. k ar Ferdinand has four children (all by his first marriage, with the Duchess Marie Louise of Parma, who died in 1899) — Crown Prince Boris, Prince Cyril and the Princess- - " \a and Nadezhda (Hope). Boris, who bears the ancient title, of Prince of lumovo, took part with distinction in the first and second Balkan wars, and the popularity which he at that time gained by his democratic relations with his com- rades in arms, down to the humblest - Her in the ranks, has made him the popular hero in the present conflict. Ferdinand's consort. Queen Elea- nor, Princess of Reuss Koestritz, en- deared herself to her adopted people in the Balkan wars by her service- to the soldiers in the hospitals, whom she tended in many instances with her own hands. In the course o( her indefatigable hospital work, which she now has resumed. Queen Eleanor at times ventured close to the front line, and the efficiency of the Bulgarian sanitary service was due largely to her initiative and her energetic supervision. — A 5,1915. IN THE BALKANS .).) IV PROPAGANDA IN THE BALKANS The Balkans for many years have been the field for extensive propa- ganda operations by practically all the great powers in the pursuit of their own selfish purposes. In many instances agents of these powers, and especially of Russia, have succeeded in promoting polit- ical changes by the liberal use of money among lenders of minority parties, and even among chiefs of majorities. For a long time Balkan sentiment and Balkan policies have been regarded at various chancel- leries as responsive to the appeal of money, and. if not of money, then of higher forms o( bribes, such as the proffer of territory. King Constantine of Greece, in his continued refusal to expose his country to the danger o{ invasion by espousing the cause oi the allies at this time, has shown a capacity to resist the higher form of bribe — the i-ession of territory, lie is a far-seeing statesman, whose survey of the future extends beyond the length of his nose. To popular clamor, largely induced by foreign agitation, as well as to concrete of- fers by ministers o( entente powers, he has replied with a firim dec- lination to lend himself to inter- national schemes which might com- promise the future of his country. That future, as he conceives it. is too great, and too closely bound up with the very life of his people, to he hazarded upon uncertain en- terprises for the benefit of great nations at war. His first aim is to demonstrate that Oreeee. as a sov- ereign nation, is subject to neither the threats nor the blandishments of the entente or of the central em- pires. — Nov. 6, 1915. THE BALKAN CAMPAIGN The breakdown of the Serbian army is the dominant fart that strikes the eye in the operations of the Balkan campaign up to date. The primary object o( the German drive through Serbia — the seizure of the stretch o( the orient railway running through that country — has been either absolutely accomplished or else its accomplishment is contin- gent upon mere details o( military movements o( which the smvessful conclusion is imminent. The Austro-German and the Bul- garian forces between them now hold almost two-thirds of Serbia in equal proportions, and a Bulgarian army, having established its grip upon the Salonica railway as far south as Yeles. is effectively block- ing all communication between the main Serbian army and the base of the allies at Salonica, handed over to the use o( the allies under a con- struction of neutrality which Bel- gium denied to Germany at the ul- timate cost which a nation can pay. The primary task of the Austro- German-Bulgarian invasion of Ser- bia to all intents and purposes ac- complished, the invaders are now pushing their operations toward the conclusion of the secondary phase of the campaign — the capture or de- struction of the main Serbian army. To this end an Austro-German army is sweeping southward in the west- ern region of the operations, and its activities are being seconded by a Bulgarian army which has made a swift advance into the interior of new Serbia — consisting of territory which is claimed by Bulgaria on ra- THE GRAVEST J66 PAYS Montenegrin front) the Bulgarians is I the S - nth, an at a jui of the Vnglo-French and S ian rent t" Bulgarian plan, the allies are i ssing jains ' ; a front from the south, but - urs to be a lav., s ssure and break throng Bulgarian lis s Upon I gy of the a"ies will stent the eas :. yet up - V B .. ins would cornp* n the '. - \ ranja, would ex- new - y a British an Such e to . .uir hun 5 - old ion s OS Germai - \v. s cans is - 3 war that has - - gainst lv as by the V pos- sess - . plishment of their initial pur- pose, 1 3 g Bulg q the Salonica : at Veles And until this 3 d it is id] - \ : a potential menace to the Austro-Ger- man a through Serbia. — A 15, 1915. ROUMANIAN NEUTRALITY A s ifter the Rouman Berlin and \ \: would not per as i German and A - trian warships Pair. >ws \: Roumania, B s now ai the saj - st two Hai- ti neutral in be ta an indication he ini- :ure. a m the s ghout its 3 I sent s B •atiuua: sent stai ign- the Teutonic al be- s out wou I be i. vy ITALY'S LOST OPPORTUNITY .: of V. im; A.us . an m has all but - '.ta'.v's - obtain a foothold in v - voee IN THE BALKANS 229 over the ruins of Lovcen was a day of fate lor Italy. Had the Montene- grins been reinforced with men and munitions by the Italian War Office. as they easily could have been from the [talian base at Avlona, a check might have been imposed upon Aus- tria's march through the Black Mountain. With Lovcen and Cet- tinje in the hands of the Aust nans, an important obstacle on the way to Avlona has been removed. Ai Avlona, which Italy seized he- fore her declaration of war against Austria, on the ostensible grounds that disorders in the city and dis- trict demanded intervention in the interest of humanity, the Italian garrison, supported by a naval force in the roadstead, is awaiting the ad- vance of the central powers and Bul- garia, just as the Franco-British forces are fortifying themselves against the same enemies in Salon- ica. Co-operating with the Austrian advance into Montenegro, a Bulga- rian army has been making progress in Albania, in pursuit of the rem- nants of the Serbian army, and has reached the town of Elbasan, fifty miles north and slightly east of the Italian stronghold. In its descent through Scutari, the Austrian army will have the co-operation of the Albanian tribesmen, who have been at feud with the Montenegrins for centuries. A joint Austrian-Bulgarian at- tack upon the Italians is a salient feature of the coming phase of the Balkan operations. For the pur- poses of the contemplated advance upon the allies at Salonica, the de- struction of the Italian menace upon the prospective right flank of the central powers is essential. And a successful resistance by the Ital- ians dtn^ not appear probable, in view of their numerical and strategic inferiority to their enemies. I T n less the unexpected happens, the expulsion of Italy from Albania appears to be the next event on the schedule in the Balkans. And the less of Avlona would constitute an irretrievable reverse for Italy in her endeavor to dispute the mastery of the Adriatic with Austria. — Jan- L7, L916. THE FIRST BREAK Montenegro has surrendered. Never has Mich a sinister sentence been written in the previous history of the gallant, little nation which for five hundred years stood like a rock before the sweep of the Turkish wave of invasion. Montenegro lias surrendered be- cause the Lreat White ( V.ar, whose faithful ally and follower the little mountain state had been for many generations, failed in his promise of aid and succor. .Montenegro has surrendered because Italy, to whom her king is hound by ties of kinship as well as common interests, talked while the Austrian battering ram beat upon the steep slopes of Mount Lovcen. Montenegro has surren- dered because England and France, co-guardians with Russia and Italy of her independence, did not strengthen her hands in these last fateful days. Montenegro has fallen because every promise of assistance which has keen made to its brave king and people proved mere sound without meaning. The Montenegrin eagle, which never before in all its stormy life had lowered it- eyes before the Bun, fluttered to earth with broken wings because it saw the fate of Ser- 230 THE GRAYEST 366 DAYS liia. swept off the map by the enemy; of Greece, harassed and humiliated by its would-be friends ; of Belgium, urged to hold back single-handed the mighty foe while those who had roused it to resistance blundered and muddled. The final decision of the Monte- negrins to yield to the inevitable and lay down arms which they had never laid down before, may not be a military factor of great signifi- cance, but it is bound to appeal to the imagination of the world, bel- ligerent as well as neutral. The wild demonstration which greeted the announcement of victory by Count Tisza in the Hungarian par- liament yesterday was no indication of exaggerated valuations. Montenegro's surrender marks the first break in the ranks of the allies. The nation which, consider- ing its size and resources, had borne the heaviest burden of the war, is the first to admit exhaustion; the first to. seek terms at the hands of the conquerors. Nobody can be so fatuous as to assume that the fall of Montenegro can have any decisive effect upon the final outcome of the operations as a whole. But Vienna, Berlin and Sofia may well be excused for read- ing the sinister import of the hand- writing on the wall for their ene- mies into the short, pregnant an- nouncement in the Hungarian par- liament : "Montenegro has surrendered."—- Jan. 8, 1916. THE NEW BALKAN "DRIVE" The enormous concentration of forces in Salonica gives color to the frequent predictions in entente quar- ters that one of the features of the early spring operations in the world war will be an attack upon Bulgaria in an attempt to break down Ger- many's ''bridge''' to the East, and in- cidentally to punish Bulgaria for her choice of partners. It appears to be a fact that there are now in Salonica no less than a quarter of a million French and British soldiers, with complete equipment of artillery and other supplies adapted to mountain fight- ing, such as will figure largely in the prospective "march to Sofia.'' In addition to these forces, the entente war offices are reorganizing 160,000 Serbs, the remnant of the Serbian army, at Corfu and Bizerta. It is estimated that the entente will be able to put at least 720,000 men in the field, including 200.000 Greeks, who, it is assumed in London, will join the entente army corps in their impact upon the Bulgarian frontier. In addition, the entente strate- gists evidently rely upon the par- ticipation of Roumania in the opera- tions against Bulgaria and her Ger- manic partners. Boumania can put 500,000 men in the field. The Rou- manians have been carrying on a gradual mobilization for the past two or three months, and it is ex- pected in London and Paris that they will be able to offer a serious mili- tary problem to Bulgaria along the Danube and in the territory border- ing upon Dobruja, which Boumania annexed at the expense of Bulgaria in 1913. With the addition of the Rouma- nian establishment, in the event of the alignment of Roumania against the central powers, the entente would be able to dispose of a grand total of no less than 1,200,000 troops, exclusive of the crews and marines from the ships in Salonica IX THE BALKANS 231 harbor and other parts of the Aegean, for their advance upon the Bulgarian frontier. By the inter- vention of Roumania, too, the en- tente counts upon being put in a position to apply something like the famous German "nutcracker" to the German- Austrian-Bulgarian forces in Macedonia and what was former- ly the kingdom of Serbia. Against this formidable arma- ment Bulargia has now about 350,- 000 men along the Greek border and in the territory immediately to the rear. The Germans and Austria- Hungary, unless all estimates of their strength in the Balkans are far beside the mark, have a total of 150,- 000 men in contact with the Bul- garians. The persistent rumors that considerable forces of Turks have been concentrated along the Danube and on the Black Sea coast in Bul- garia may be dismissed as unreli- able. The central powers, in all probability, have no more than 500,- 000 men in the Balkan region. The discrepancy would be fatal to the cause of the central powers if it were not for the fact that the esti- mates of military advantage for the entente are based largely upon future contingencies which cannot be foretold with any assurance of accuracy. An attack upon the Franco-British army in and around Salonica at this moment would find the balance of numbers on the side of the central powers and Bulgaria. The explanation of the present in- activity of the Bulgarian forces, with their German- Austrian allies, on the Greek border is to be found in the perfect willingness of the Ber- lin general staff to permit the diver- sion of considerable numbers of French and German troops from the western line to the Balkan front. Up to a certain point this diversion will not be interfered with. The mo- ment, however, when the concentra- tion of Franco-British forces at Salonica begins to present the pros- pect of numerical superiority for the entente, a swift movement against Salonica is a certainty. — March 13, 1916. ROUMANIAN ALIGNMENT A REVERSAL OF HISTORY Fortification System Aimed at Russia, Not Austria — Bulga- ria's Deep Resentment Against Her Neighbor By SVETOZAK TONJOROFF The Sphinx has spoken. Rou- mania has entered the war. And the entrance of Roumania into the war on the side of Russia and her allies is another of those reversals of the verdicts of history which has given a kaleidoscopic cast to great events of the pending struggle. Defense against Russia has been the tradition of Roumanian policy since the Russo-Turkish war of 1877, when Roumania fought on Russia's side, to find herself rewarded at the congress of Berlin by the annexation to Russia of the Roumanian prov- ince of Bessarabia. Ever since that event Roumania has regarded a clash with Russia as an impending event in her national life. This trend is plainly shown by the position of the Roumanian fortifica- tions. There is only one system of these, north of the Danube, with the sole exception of the armed camps that surround Bucharest. These for- tifications are on the River Sereth. The greatest is the bridgehead oi 232 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS Galatz, close to the Russian border. The others are at Namalosa and at Fokshani. On the Austrian border ihore is nothing that might be called a permanent defensive work. So friendly have Roumanians rela- tions been with Germany and Aus- tria that Roumania was the silent member of the Triple Alliance. Roumanians industries are largely owned in Austria and Germany. German capital controls a great part of the Roumanian petroleum resources. There are many Germans in Roumania. In -Bucharest there is a German high school with 3,000 pupils, and a trade school for boys and girls with a large attendance of Germans and Roumanians. Ger- man educational activities in the capital are duplicated to some ex- tent in other large cities of the king- dom. Transylvania the Consideration And now Roumania. which had been regarding Russia as her chief enemy, has joined Ru>sia against her former friends. The prompt- ness with which the government at Bucharest has followed its declara- tion of war with an attack on the Transvlvanian border of Hungary indicates one of the. territorial con- siderations that have governed Rou- mania's choice of sides, and also gives some idea of the strategical purposes of the Roumanian general staff — a joint invasion of Hungary with Russia. Such a joint employment of forces may be expected also on the Bul- garian border. Roumania has served in past campaigns as Russia's road to Bulgaria. She will serve as a road for Russian armies to Bulgaria in this war. In former conflicts, how- ever, the Russian campaigns have been directed against Turkey. The next campaign across Roumania will be directed against Bulgaria, in whose behalf former Russian enter- prises were nominally undertaken. The relations between Roumania and her southern neighbor, Bul- garia, have lived a legacy of hatred that is unsurpassed in any region of the present conflict with the possi- ble exception of the Austro-Italian. The resentment is chiefly on the side of Bulgaria. It is the outcome of Roumania's activities in 1913, at the time of the second Balkan war. In that struggle Bulgaria, fighting four enemies on three fronts, was at- tacked by a Roumanian army from the rear. At the peace conference of Bucha- rest at the close of that war. Rou- mania took over a strip of Bulgarian territory from the Danube to the Black sea, including the city of Silis- tria and about 3,000 square miles of the most productive soil within the borders of her neighbor. This seizure of territory by a neighbor with whom Bulgaria had no quarrel is resented more bitterly by the Bulgarians than their losses to any of their enemies in that con- flict. A Bulgarian soldier, who had taken part in the first and second Balkan wars, probably gave true ex- pression to the intensity of Bul- garian feeling against Roumania when he said, shortly after his ar- rival in New York: "In the next war with Roumania. even the rats in Bulgaria will enlist against the enemy." 100,000 Bulgars on Border There are more than 100,000 Bul- garian troops on the Roumanian border who have been awaiting the contingency which has now arrived. IN THE BALKANS 233 In addition, there are a small num- ber of German and Austrian troops, and possibly a Turkish division. The Bulgarian part of this army of defense is fully imbued with the na- tional hatred of a neighbor who took advantage of Bulgaria's distress to despoil her of her territory. By the seizure of the fortified city of Silistria, at the end of the second Balkan war, Roumania acquired the key to the famous quadrangle of fortresses, of which the other three angles are Rustchuk, on the Danube; Varna, on the Black sea, and Shu- men. There is reason to believe that the Roumanians have been carrying on extensive preparations at Silis- tria since its acquisition, in prepara- tion for a clash with Bulgaria, which was foreshadowed by the territorial transactions at the conference at Bucharest. There are Roumanian railroads running to the Roumanian banks of the Danube opposite four Bulgarian towns — Sistov, Nikopol and Vidin, a fortified place which successfully resisted a Serbian siege in the Bul- garo-Serbian war of 1885. Korabia is another Roumanian railroad ter- minus on the Danube. Here a Rou- manian army crossed the river in the operations against Bulgaria in 1913. As to the quality of the army of G00,000 men which Roumania is prepared to put in the field, and most of which is no doubt already mobilized, there is a marked differ- ence of opinion among experts. In the Russo-Turkish war of 1877 a Roumanian contingent under King (at that time prince) Carol made an excellent showing at the siege of Pleven. The fall of the famous Gri- vista redoubt, one of the most obsti- nate points of Ghazi Osman's de- fense, is credited to Roumanian valor. Since that siege the Rouman- ian army has not been tested in bat- tle, for the adventure into Bulgaria in 1913 may better be characterized as a marauding expedition than a military operation. The Roumanian military officers to be seen on the streets of Bucha- rest are not described in flattering terms by foreign visitors, as a rule. They are somewhat lacking in physique, and convey an impression of over-civilization. However, it is possible that they may prove more effective in the serious business of war than their appearance in the extremely gay Roumanian capital would indicate. — Aug. 29, 1916. THE ROUMANIAN INVASION Once more the weak spot in the lines of the central powers is being demonstrated. It is Austria. De- spite the evident expectation at Vienna of Roumania's ultimate alignment with the entente allies, the Austrian War office is caught un- prepared. The retirement of the Austrians from a large part if not the whole of Transylvania appears to be in progress. The overrunning of Transylvania by the Roumanians, however, cannot be a decisive event in itself. It is the co-operation of the Russians with their latest allies in the new re- gion of operations that is the real danger confronting the central pow- ers in the combined movement. And this movement is pressing downward toward a vital point in the line of communications between Berlin and Constantinople. It is to the safeguarding of this line that German strategy is now addressing itself, probably under the strong guiding hand of Mackensen. 23-i TITE GRAYEST 366 DAYS It is conceivable that the Germans have no intention of weakening their military power in the main region — ■ the line of communications, by in- verting troops for the defense of Austrian territory which has no special strategic significance. It is reasonable to assume, however, that when the Roumanians begin to ap- proach within striking distance of the "bridge" they will find that all the necessary measures have been taken by the Berlin general staff to make that structure impregnable. When that stage of the RuBSO-Rou- manian offensive operations has been reached, the allied invaders will bring up against the strong wall of German resistance which has frus- trated Russian military power in the northern region of the Russo-Ger- nian conflict. — Aug. 31, l!'lti. PSYCHOLOGICAL STRATEGY There is something o\' the "call of the wild" in the methods appar- ently being pursued by the entente in their movement to detach Bul- garia from her alliance with the central powers. There is a strong- ly held theory in Petrograd that the Bulgarians are being held in thrall by Germany, and that they are awaiting the appearance of the "little brothers" from the Neva, to break their shackles and attach themselves to their true friends. And the French and British allies evidently have adopted the Russian view that at the first Russian cry of "little brother!" the Bulgarian troops will throw their rifles away and rush to embrace their liberators. Upon such a theory the allied press has founded a wonderful scenario which ought to be filmed. It has elaborated a story that a pseudo plot is already brewing in Sofia for a stage abdication o( Czar Ferdinand before a staged storm of popular indignation. The next step, according to the allied "dope," will he the accession to the throne of Crown Prince Boris, the formal ad- hesion of Bulgaria to its great and c;oot\ friends, the protectors o^ small nationalities, and the closing of Germany's "bridge" to Constanti- nople. To give color to this theory of the prospective "benevolent assimi- lation" o{' Bulgaria by the entente, it has been pointed out that Gen. Sarrail has offered little opposition, if' any. to the advance of the Bul- garian steward the Greek coast of the Aegean and their occupation of Kavala. This Greek city, with its hinterland, it has been pointed out, is designed to figure as Bulgaria's compensation for the surrender of all or a part of the former Serbian Macedonia which is now held by Bulgaria. Thus, it has been argued, Bulgarian aspirations will he satis- tied. Serbia will he reinstated in Macedonia and this cruel struggle hetween neighboring nations will end in a love feast at which the cham- pions o( small nationalities will pre- side beamingly with hands upraised in the "bless-you-my-children" atti- tude. All of which is highly entertain- ing as well as creditable to the in- ventiveness of entente writers, in- cluding the fertile and ubiquitous Dr. E. J. Dillon. But there are cer- tain facts that militate strongly against the soundness of the diverg- ing conclusions fathered by E. J. Dillon & Company. The reason why the entente did not oppose the advance oi' the Bulgarians npon Kavala more vigorously than they IN THE BALKANS 235 did was their desire to see Greek re- sentment aroused to the point of explosion by the loss of tei ritory. This resentment, ii was nicely cal- culated at Salonica, would force King Constant ine into the entente camp by a declaration of war against Bulgaria. This result may yet be accom- plished ; and its accomplishment would explain SarraiFs feeble ac- tivity much more logically than a desire to give Bulgaria a present. The only presents which the entente is now offering the Bulgarians are shells fired at their positions all along the line. And Bulgaria is returning these presents with promptness and energy. In the meanwhile, however, the entente is actually carrying out an interesting movement of psychologi- cal strategy against the Bulgarians from the side of the Danube. A Russian, army has crossed Roumania and is concentrating in the Rouman- ian province of Dobrudja, on terri- tory which the Roumanians filched from Bulgaria, in the war of 1913. This army is obviously destined to attempt an invasion of Bulgaria. It is an army for war and not for cajolery. Words far different from "little brothers*' are upon its bearded lips. It is the bearer of the nagaika and not of the olive branch. It is the instrument of the vow which Czar Nicholas made when Bulgaria joined the entente, that he would punish with all due severity the chil- dren who had proved ungrateful to "Little Mother Russia." This army may give the "call of the wild"; hut to the Bulgarians it will sound not like an imitation hut like a threat. And the Bulgarians are not likely to mistake the lan- guage .of their "little hrothers" — the little brothers who now, as ill L913, are exposing them to the hor- rors id' an invasion and a possible dismemberment by a non-Slavic race.— -Sept. 1, 1916. BALKAN OPERATIONS SHAP- ING UP FOR A DEATH STRUGGLE By SVETOZAB TONJOROFF The operations in the Balkan re- gion are assuming an increasing im- portance in the military situation as a. whole. Some well-informed mili- tary crit LCS are of the opinion that between the Danube and the Aegean will he fought the decisive engage- ments of the war — I lie halt le, which will determine whether victory shall rest with the entente or the central powers. A brief glance at the strategic situation in the Balkans is, there- fore, of timely interest. In this region the operations have developed no material change in the alignment of forces. What small advantages have been achieved rest with the Bulgarians, who have oc- cupied the city of Kavala, on the Aegean -ca, with its fortifications, after perfunctory resistance from their Greek garrisons and apparently without a serious attempt on the part of the Franco-British comman- ders to stop their progress. In ad- dition, the Bulgarians at the begin- ning of the first allied offensive a month ago succeeded in pushing their lines into Greek territory at the extreme left wing of the entente armies, in the region of Fiorina, Kastoria and Lake Ostrovo. By this achievement the Bulgaro- 236 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS German strategists placed a margin of safety between their territory and an allied advance, and also made sure that at least some of the fiarht- o ing shall be carried on on Greek soil. Solid Results Accomplished In the northeastern region of the Balkan battlefields German and Bul- garian arms have accomplished some solid results which evidently are des- tined to play an important part, not only in the operations of the Do- brudjan front, but in those of the Transylvanian region as well. The seizure of the fortresses of Turtukai (or Tutrakan) and Silis- tria, on the Dobrudja bank of the Danube, with more than 20,000 Roumanian prisoners and 100 guns by the Bulgarians and their German allies was a feat of some military importance. Turtukai and Silistria are in the territory which Roumania detached from Bulgaria in the sec- ond Balkan war. The acquisition was of strategic importance to Rou- mania beacuse it deprived Bulgaria of two possible bases for operations against the Roumanian capital, Bucharest, less than forty miles northwest of Turtukai. At the same time it gave the Roumanians a fortified defense for their capital. The rapidity with which the Bul- garo-Germans struck their blow in this region of the Dobrudja, and the inability of the Roumanians to offer effective resistance to the invaders, were events of disastrous import to the Roumanians, who since have been compelled to modify their Transylvanian campaign to a great event. The transfer of Gen. Aver- escu. the Roumanian commander-in- chief, from Transylvania to the Do- brudja gives some indication of the importance which the Roumanians and their Russian allies attach to their reverses on the Danube. Further progress by the Germans and Bulgarians in the Dobrudja is bound to lessen still more the Rou- manian-Russian pressure in Transyl- vania. There is reason to believe that Austrian strategists counted on such an eventuality at the beoinning of the Russo-Roumanian incursion into Transylvania. And the as- sumption by Austria of such an eventuality probably explains the perfunctory resistance which the Austrians offered to the Russo-Rou- manians in their first rush over the Roumanian border. Further Operations Likely With a considerable part of the Dobrudja in their hands, the Ger- mans and Bulgarians, under the supreme command of Field Marshal yon Mackensen, are in a position to attempt further offensive operations against Roumania. It would be rea- sonable to assume that plans for such operations have been the sub- ject of the discussions at the con- ference at German headquarters be- tween the Kaiser and the Bulgarian Czar and Enyer Bey. the Ottoman minister of war. The purpose of this conference may well be a united offensive de- signed to solve the military problems presented by Roumania's entrance into the war and the events that have followed it. There are two possible routes for an effective offensive against Rou- mania, from the Roumanian terri- tory already won by the central powers and their ally. One is a march on the capital after a cross- ing of the Danube at Turtukai and Silistria, possibly supplemented by another expedition from Rustchuk. IN THE BALKANS 237 The bank of the Danube opposite Silistria, as well as opposite Rust- chuk, is connected by rail with Bucharest, and the crossing of the river in the face of opposing forces has been so frequently accomplished that its practicability is not open to question. Such an operation, however, would leave the right flank of the advanc- ing armies open to attacks from the east, by Russian forces landing at Kustendje (or Constanza). Con- stanza is the main Roumanian sea- port. Through it the Russians have been forwarding men and supplies to their allies. The retention of this port by the Russo-Roumanians would always carry the danger of a strong attack in flank upon any army carrying out the offensive above indicated. Must Take Constanza Constanza, therefore, must be taken by the central powers before they can develop their present move- ment into Roumania to its logical conclusion. To the defense of Con- stanza the Roumanians and their Russian allies are devoting much of their attention, and there is rea- son to believe that behind the veil of secrecy which has been drawn over the German-Bulgarian operations in the Dobrudja for the past week, Marshal von Mackensen is carrying on his disposition of forces and ma- terials for a blow at Constanza. With Constanza in their hands, the Bulgarians and their German allies woidd have an open road to Galatz, the great fortified place of Roumania. This is the second pos- sible route for a great invasion of Roumania. Tn their march from Constanza the invaders would be protected on their left flank for prac- tically all the distance of a little more than eighty miles by the marshes which fringe the west bank of the Danube, and. on their right for a part of the distance by lakes and marshes. Galatz, is the apex of an inverted V which the Danube forms at the point of its confluence with the Pruth. On the north bank of the Danube after it breaks into a V, is another tangle of lakes and marshes which would protect an invading army from that direction. The possibility of a successful demonstration against Constanza, and subsequently against Galaiz, is an element with which the Rouman- ian general staff must reckon, es- pecially if, as now appears likely. Germany and Austria decide to send considerable forces into Bulgaria to aid in the operations against Rou- mania through the Dobrudja. Galatz, once in the enemy's hands, would be a grave menace in the rear of the Roumanian operations in Transylvania. This fortress is less than eighty miles from the Transyl- - vanian border. An army moving westward from Galatz would have railroads at its command. But even if the invaders failed to take Galatz, the defense of that city, with its three consecutive lines of fortifica- tions on the river Sereth, would re- quire a force which would weaken to a great extent the striking power of the Russo-Roumanians. And such a weakening of the Russo-Roumanian lines would fur- nish an opportunity for a counter- offensive by the Austrians from the west, which would place the Rou- manians between two fires. Is this the plan that is being con- sidered at German headquarters?' Developments in the next few days. 238 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS may furnish an answer to that ques- tion. — Sept. 16, 1916. SWIFT RETRIBUTION The mills of the gods are grind- ing exceeding fine in the case of Roumania. And they are not grind- ing slowly. Roumania in the past three weeks lost • ahout five thou- sand square miles in the Dobrudja She has lost all the territory which she took away from Bulgaria in 1913 and a good many square miles in addition. The circumstances under which Roumania took that territory from Bulgaria in 1913 are interesting. Roumania had no quarrel with her neighbor. She had no racial claim to the soil upon which she had cast a covetous eye. She simply wanted it. And when Bulgaria was hard beset by her former allies and Turkey — four nations against one — Roumania marched across her neighbor's frontiers and occupied the land she wanted. While she was occupying it she committed acts of violence against a peaceful civilian population which have left their mark upon the Roumanian army. The Bulgarians remember the events of 1913 vividly. The Sofia official bulletins announcing the re- covery of lost territory in the pres- ent operations apply a simple, short word to this territory. They desig- nate it as "stolen by Roumania in 1913." When Roumania three weeks ago reached the conclusion that the central powers were beaten and that her help was urgently needed by the victors, the Bulgarian people saw their opportunity. The swift- ness of their blow at the despoil er took him completely by surprise. Tutrakan — the Bulgarian — fell with more than 20,000 Roumanian officers and soldiers and large quan- tities of artillery and supplies. Then fell Silistria — the Bulgarian — which Roumania had picked for her strong- hold against her neighbor. And now Mangalia, beyond the former frontier between Roumania and Bul- garia, is also in the hands of the Bulgarians under Von Mackensen. The next great battle of the Do- brudja campaign will be fought on a line twenty good miles beyond the frontier which Roumania violated in 1913. Whether the decree of war as now written shall stand or shall be reversed by superior force as the campaign develops, the Roumanians alreadv have reason to reo-ret bit- terly the wrong which they did in 1913 to a brave neighbor with whom they were at peace. — Sept. 20, 1916. ' THE WAR MOVE IN THE BALKANS The seizure by Bulgarian troops, with German co-operation, of three forts on the Greek side of the fron- tier, in the valley of the Strouma, need not necessarily imply the be- ginning of an offensive movement against the Franco-British strong- hold at Salonica. By occupying the fortresses of Dragotin, Rupel and Spatovo, however, the Bulgarian commanders have carried out an operation which would be of great strategic value in the event of an offensive by their opponents. All three positions are in close proximity to the railroad line be- tween Salonica and the Bulgarian frontier at Xanthi. With this line under their control the Franco- IX THE BALKANS 239 British strategists could have trans- ported a considerable force eastward to the left wing of the Bulgaro-Ger- man positions and thus menaced them with a turning movement. Now that this line is in Bulgarian hands this danger to their left is greatly lessened, if not altogether removed. Simultaneously with the opera-, tions in the Strouma valley the Bul- garians are evidently preparing for a movement into Greece from Xanthi, on the Mesta, in the direc- tion of Kavalla, the Greek port which the Bulgarians wrested from Turkey in the war of 1912 and which was in turn taken from them under the terms of the treaty of Bucharest in the following year. This movement from Xanthi makes Kavalla the objective of two distinct lines of advance, one along the Strouma valley and the other from the east. The possession of Xanthi would be an important strategic advantage to the central powers in any attempt by the Franco forces in Salonica, re- inforced by the 80,000 Serbians who have just been landed there, to flank the Bulgarians in order to strike at Germany's "bridge" to the Orient. It has been reported repeatedly that the Anglo-French strategists had landed or were about to land troops at Kavalla for such an enterprise. By fortifying themselves on Greek soil northwest of Kavalla, and with- in striking distance of that port, the Bulgarians have taken a reasonable precaution against the success of such an expedition. It is too early to say, however, that the movements on the Mesta and the Strouma are the beginning of an offensive by the central powers against Salonica and the 400,000 allied troops who have been fortifying themselves there all winter. The Dardanelles TROJAN WAR A STRUGGLE FOR THE DARDANELLES Contest Between Agamemnon and Priam for Mastery of Straits Recalled by Events of To-day By Svetozab Tonjoroff One of the earliesl sea powers in history — the mastery of Troy oyer the commerce between the east and the wesl — was the cause that pre- cipitated the first organized siege known to the chronicles o\' man, the siege of the ancient city of Priam by the Hellenic expedition under King Agamemnon. The situation at that misty phase of the story o( the human race paral- lels strikingly that of to-day. Just as the Turks in 1915 are exerting a powerful influence upon world-af- fairs by keeping the straits closed in the Tare of half of Christendom, so Priam in about the year 1200 B. C. kept an iron hand upon his world — the Mediterranean world — by the same expedient, though applied by different means. Troy 'dominated the straits by the combination" o\' two accidental circumstances — the presence of a current in the straits which ran from the Aegean northeastward, and the control of the river Scamander, which constituted the only appreci- able water supply for ships sailing into or out of the mouth of the straits, then known as the Helles- pont. The road between the treasure- house of the Euxinc, now the Black sea, and the Mediterranean, the cen- ter of civilization and of the Greek race, was difficult to traverse owing to the presence of the current, which in the Narrows reaches a. maximum velocity of six miles an hour. This condition, in the infancy of maritime science, constituted an ele- ment o\' extreme importance and ships going in the direction of the Euxinc were obliged to await at the mouth of the straits a favorable mo- ment for an attempt to make the passage. Sometimes this period of waiting extended into weeks. Troy's Control of Trade The point where navigators mark- ed time for winds and currents was oil' the coast of Troy, where Priam and his predecessors had established a profitable victualling and water- ing place. In order to increase the profits of the enterprise the king of Troy devised the scheme of prevent- ing through passages either into the Aegean or into the Hellespont. All ships coming into the offing of Troy from the Hellespont had to transship their cargoes at that point, and all vessels coming from the Aegean had to transship for the voy- age through the straits. Thus Troy levied cess and toll upon the entire commerce of the Euxino-Mediterranoan, which at that time constituted the extent of the commercial world. THE DARDANELLES 241 This mastery of the mouth of the straits eventually began to weigh with crushing force upon the rising commerce of Greece. The Greek Tace had fringed the Euxine with colonies, of which the Cheronese, the present Crimean peninsula, was; one of the most important. The land passage hetween these flourish- ing colonies and the mother coun- try was impracticable, owing to geo- graphical and political conditions, and the sea route was essential to the very existence of the commer- cial stations with which the Greeks had dotted the coast of the great inland sea. like the allies to-day, they un- dertook the task of forcing the hand of Priam and establishing the free- dom of the Hellespont. This free- dom, however, they were bent upon holding under their own control, and did so hold it for many cen- turies. The myth concerning the adventures of Helen, whose name is coupled with Troy, is only a minor incident in the motives that under- lay the historic struggle, perhaps in- vented to add glamor to an adven- ture based upon strictly commercial considerations. After the fall of Troy before the combined strategy and militarv valor of the Greeks, the Hellenic conquer- ors took comprehensive measures to prevent a new mastery of the straits which should a^ain hamper their main artery of trade. They estab- lished, at either side of the mouth of the strait, a fortified city — Sestos on the European side and Abvdos on the Asiatic, clo*e to the site of Troy itself, which is still marked by the remnant of colossal ruins, indicating the thoroughness of the measures which the kino- of Troy had adopted to maintain his dominion. Greeks Masters of Straits Just as Priam had been master of the Hellespont before the Trojan war, so the Greeks became its mas- ters after that struggle — with the difference that the only traffic sub- ject to their control was their own and so was exempt from ruinous im- positions. Eight centuries after the test of strength between Troy and Hellas the Greeks fell into a quarrel be- tween themselves, and the fortunes of the internecine struggle called the Peloponesian war hinged largely upon the mastery of the same straits which are now the centre of a world contest. Lysander, the Spartan admiral, availing himself of a moment in 405 B. C., when the Athenian com- manders were at cross-purposes, sailed boldly from Abvdos, pro- ceeded up the narrows unmolested and eventually at the mouth of the Aegospotami, near the present town of Gallipoli. smashed the Athenian naval power and established, for the time being, Sparta as mistress of the Hellespont and of Greece. From Aegospotami to the middle of the seventeenth century of the Christian era, when the Turks tablished their control of the Dar- danelles by the construction of the two fortresses of Sedd-nl-Bahr and Kura Kale ( Sandy Castle; at which the guns of the Allies have thun- dered with little avail, the story of the straits is a succession of wa Persian-. G reeks, Romans, Vene- tians and Turks have hurled ships and hosts into battle in an attempt to wrest the highway of the ancient world eommerce, which still remains the highway of commerce for Russia with her vast grain fields and oil 242 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS wells, and of the Balkan states with their rich agricultural products. And the story that is being writ- ten in letters of flame to-day is only a repetition of the old, old story of the Trojan war and its underlying courses in all its essential features. — Nov. 3, 1915. QUITTING THE DARDA- NELLES The abandonment by the British forces of the western coasi of Gal- lipoli peninsula is a development of great significance. It constitutes an admission of the failure of the allied campaign in a region in which it. was undertaken with confidence of an early victory. Taken in conjunc- tion with the serious reverses which the British have suffered recently on the Tigris river, the latest de- cision by the War office at London may well be construed into an ad- mission that the campaign against Turkey has accomplished negligible results and that it docs not promise future successes on the lines on which it has been carried on here- tofore. When it is rivalled that Great Britain, like Prance, has made enormous sacrifices on Gallipoli peninsula, the full meaning of the abandonment of Suvla Bay and the Anzae territory becomes apparent as an admission of defeat. < >n the other hand. British public opinion is quite just i lied in regarding the withdrawal of more than 100,000 troops with slight casualties as a successful military feat. As in Macedonia, British commanders have succeeded in saving their forces and their equipment. In spite of this partial success — if it shall be chronicled as a success in the annals of the empire after the necessity of softening the blow to British pride shall have passed — . the abandonment of the Gallipoli operations must be regarded moral- ly and from the military point of view as the greatest reverse suffered by either belligerent camp since the battle of the Marne and the collapse of the Russian invasion of Hungary. The British government and peo- ple based great hopes upon the Dar- danelles campaign. It was their expectation that the swift forcing of the straits would place Constanti- nople in the hands of the allies, rally to their aid all the Balkan states and forever shatter the German dream of domination in Asia Minor. Those expectations have been com- pletely frustrated. More than that, the event has given actuality to the predictions made by German ob- servers and statesmen that the allies would fail in their Dardanelles cam- paign, and substance to their belief that, having failed to force the straits) the British would find the Suez canal and Egypt itself difficult to defend. The British official report of the abandonment of the peninsula an- nounces thai the troops removed from there have been transferred to "another sphere of operations." Whether that sphere be the Balkans or Egypt, will become evident in a very short time. But to whatever sphere they have been shifted, the troops who have tasted defeat with total casualties of 100.000 men in one theatre of events are not likely to prove very effective human ma- terial in anv other theatre. The War in Asia Minor ERZERUM AND AFTER A new estimate of the military and political significance of the tak- ing of the great Armenian strong- hold of Erzerura must be made in the light of the information that has since become available as to the act- ual scope of that operation. The entente powers, grasping the oppor- tunity of their firs! spectacular suc- cess since the surrender of Przemysl by the Austrians more than a year ago, are seeking to promote an im- pression that the Russian victory marks one of the turning points of the war. Constantinople is silent. The German general staff has with- held comment on the event and its significance. One fact must be kept clearly in mind in any attempt to estimate the value of the fall of Erzerum to the allies. That fact, now demonstrated by official admissions at Petrograd, is the escape of virtually the entire Turkish garrison, estimated at from 1 50,000 to 180,000 men. That force with its field and mountain artillery practically intact, is an effective army in being — an army which is offering powerful resistance to the Russians in their advance westward and southward. That army, it is now evident, is awaiting powerful reinforcements under the German general Liman von Sanders, who, contrary to previous reports from Petrograd, not only has not been captured, but Was several days' march distant from Erzerum, on his way I here, when (he Russians car- ried (ml their general assault at the bayonet's point. Even this last-named picturesque detail, however, is shorn of much of its value by the disclosure of the fact that far from dealing with the main Turkish garrison, as was at first represented, the Kussian assail- ants were confronted only by a meager fighting rearguard of the evacuating army. Even this fight- ing rearguard succeeded in making its escape after temporary resistance to the overwhelming Russian forces. The utility of Erzerum to the Russians as a new base of opera- tions against the Turks will be de- termined only by the outcome of the grand duke's forthcoming clash with the reinforcing Ottoman army under von Sanders. The situation in its purely strategic aspect almost ex- actly parallels that which obtained on the east front when Russia, hav- ing seized Przemysl and Lemberg, abandoned both places with little fighting upon the advance of the Aust ro-Germans. The political significance of the victory of Erzerum has been excus- ably exaggerated by the London commentators. The forecast of an early entrance into the war by Rou- mania and Greece, under the pres- sure of a revival of Russian military prestige, is at least premature. The scene of the triumph is far too re- mote from either Ponmania or Greece to exert any such decisive 244 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS effect. Koumania did not deviate from her neutrality either when the Bussian hosts were sweeping by her frontiers into the Bukowina or Galicia, or when the Germans beat back the Bussian invaders and halted only within gunshot of the Boumanian border. Greece has not been induced to join the allies by the presence of allied armies upon her territory and the maneuverings of allied fleets along her coast. It is highly improbable that the course of either country will be determined at this late date by an incident of inconclusive military value more than a thousand miles away. — Feb. 21, 1916. WILL TURKEY QUIT? The withdrawal of Turkey from the Germanic alliance would have a serious effect upon the central pow- ers' plan of campaign. It would place Bulgaria in a delicate position on the eve of the allies' advance from Saloncia, which is scheduled to take place in the spring. It would place Germany under the ne- cessity of sending much larger forces into the Balkan region for the purpose of guarding against an attack upon Austria from the south- east, over a prostrate Bulgaria than the German -plans of campaign have contemplated. Finally, it would nullify the purpose and re- sults of the Austro-German feat in establishing the famous "bridge" between the west and the east. And the moral effect of a break in the ranks of the new quadruple al- liance would be highly damaging to the diplomatic position of that alignment of powers. Therefore, the truth or falsity of the persistent reports that Turkey has asked or is about to ask for terms for a separate peace as a re- sult of the recent reverses to Turk- ish arms in Asia Minor is an im- portant issue in the general situa- tion. The rumors that Turkey is about to throw up the sponge are based upon the assumpton that her resources and her physical powers of resistance have been spent ; that a popular revulsion has set in against the leaders at Constantino- ple, and that the distress of the people is so profound that they are ready to resign themselves to any fate. A glance at recent history will serve to demonstrate qualities in the Ottoman stock which throw se- rious doubt upon the correcteness of these assumptions. To begin with, the Turks are a people of peculiarly tenacious purpose. In the Busso- Turkish war of 1877 Turkey was beset on two fronts — in Europe and in Asia Minor — by a victorious army. And yet, far from abandon- ing their resistance, the Turks fought the invaders all the way from the Danube to the gates of Constantinople. And peace did not come until the Eussians were en- camped before the walls of the Ot- toman capital — and the decks of a British fleet in Besica Bay were cleared for action to prevent their triumphant entrance into the city of Constantine. From Pleven, through Shipka Pass to the Chat- aid j a line, it was a last-ditch fight for the Turks, and they fought it in a last-ditch fashion which won them the admiration of the world. The situation in 1877 was dupli- cated to a certain extent in 1912, when a Bulgarian army, inspired with the ardor of a war for the lib- eration of its brothers in Macedo- THE WAR IN ASIA MINOR 245 nia, hurled itself impetuously upon a disorganized Islamic host. Yet, at the moment when Conshtantinople seemed to be within the grasp of the Bulgarians, Turkey developed a power of resistance at the Cha- taldja lines which halted the invad- ers — and held them there. In the present war the Turks have accomplished a notable feat — a feat which will live in the annals of warfare. They have not only re- sisted but repulsed an attack upon the sea road to Constantinople by the combined sea-and-land opera- tions of Great Britain and France. By that achievement they assured the safety of Constantinople. They have thrown back a strong British expedition marching along the val- ley of the Tigris. They have offered so determined a resistance to the Russians in the Caucasus theatre that the Russians, after a year's fighting, can point to only one vic- tory of any account — the fall of Er- zerum. With such conspicuous victories to offset a defeat of no particular importance, the Turks have no spe- cial reason to lose heart. Russia is still a good 700 miles from Con- stantinople, and the intervening country, with its vast agricultural resources, is in the undisturbed pos- session of the Ottomans. There is an effective Turkish army of no less than a million men, inspired with the newly established traditions of victory over infidel invaders, in the field. Behind such a Turkish army, for the first time in history, are the technical resources and engineering skill of a combination of two great European powers. The Turks, therefore, are better off in every respect than they were in 1877 or in 1912. It is highly im- probable that at this time they will reverse all their traditions and hand over the sword at an indecisive stage of affairs like the present. — ■ March 9, 1916. KUT-EL-AMARA— AND AFTER The surrender of Gen. Townshend at Kut-el-Amara means much more than the loss of nine thousand sol- diers to Great Britain. It means the complete collapse of the British campaign against Bagdad and the capture or disastrous retreat of Sir Percy Lake's relieving force. It means a crushing blow to Britain's prestige, both with the Moham- medan millions of India and with her European allies. Coming after the dismal failure of the Gallipoli campaign, the fall of Kut-el-Amara will confirm the impression of im- potent muddling which the British War Office has managed to produce upon the minds of friend and foe alike. But the indirect result of Town- shend's surrender will be much more important and far-reaching than the direct results. The failure of British arms in Mesopotamia will give Russia an advantage in Asia Minor which is destined to operate as a force of cleavage between the two powers that jointly undertook the task of crushing Turkey. Great Britain cannot regard with equa- nimity any advance of Russia upon the Persian Gulf. The British march upon Bagdad was undertaken largely for the purpose of making such a Russian advance unnecessary. So long as Great Britain remained within striking distance of the 246 THE GRAYEST 3GG DAYS greatest city of Mesopotamia she Was in a position to say to advanc- ing Russia : "I am holding the lower Tigris valley. It will be an un- friendly act if you were to extend your lines into territory which I have already occupied." With Kut fallen and Sir Percy Lake in flight in the direction of the head of the gulf, Russia will be able to explain her continued progress southward upon the ground of ob- vious necessity. She will be in a position to say to her ally: "You have tried to perform your share of our common military task and have failed, both a1 Gallipoli and on the Tigris. Now stand aside and let me try." This is precisely the opening for which Russia has been looking, es- pecially since the prospect of even a neutralized Dardanelles Strait vanished in the smoke of the Turk- ish guns that beat the British in- vaders from the peninsula. That Petrograd will take full advantage of the favorable turn of events may be expected confidently, in view of Russia'.- traditional search of an open port. It may be expected with equal certainty that such a proceed- ing on the part of Russia will arouse the keenest apprehension in Lon- don, where any move by a great power which would menace Eng- land's road to India is regarded with resentment and alarm. As things now stand in Asia Minor. England's vital interests make Turkey and not Russia her natural ally, for a victory for Tur- key would contribute to the safety of India, while a triumph for Rus- sia would bring the paw of the bear within clawing distance of Bombay. — May 1, 1916. POETIC JUSTICE The army of Gen. Townshend at Kut-el-Amara, starved out, has capitulated after a heroic resistance. All glory to these men for their bravery. We cannot look on the event without grave misgivings. Whether the survivors of the long Turkish siege numbered 8,700 or 13,000 is not important. The moral effect upon the East is the same. Western civilization may well rue the ill-fated expedition, with its demonstration to the Moslem world that the oriental Turk can overcome the occidental Englishman. The prestige and leadership of Con- stantinople will be immeasurably strengthened in all the populous East.' There is another interest in the event. There is something of poetic justice in the fact that England, which at the outset of the war set its entire military power at work to starve the German civilian popula- tion — that England itself first expe- riences this starvation, and experi- ences it on the part of its own military. London to-day may recall the words of Macbeth as he hesitates to murder his king: Rut in these cases We still have judgment here : that we but teach Bloody instructions, which being taught return To plague th' inventor ; this even- handed justice Commends th' ingredients of the poisoned chalice To our own lips. The play may not have yet run its course. If the German subma- rines succeed in cutting the British food supply, Britain may feel that same "economic pressure" upon her THE WAE IN ASIA MINOR 247 peaceful population which — in these days of Christian civilization — she designed against her enemy. — May 2, 1910. THE TURKISH OFFENSIVE The dispatches from the battle- grounds of Asia Minor make it evi- dent that the Turks are making an attempt to resume the offensive against their hereditary foes, the Russians. For the past three months Grand Duke Nicholas has been advancing through Armenia, Persia and southward in the direc- tion of the Tigris valley. The Turk- ish armies appeared to have -lost the striking power which they had previously exhibited on the Gallipoli Peninsula and at Kut-el-Amara. The Ottoman empire, or what re- mains of it, seemed to face com- plete military collapse. Perhaps misled by these signs of the increasing inability of the Turks to defend their soil, the Russian commander pressed his advance with rapidity. More than that, it is now evident that the Russians must have withdrawn some of their forces from the Turkish front in order to create a diversion in favor of Italy, and possibly of the French at Verdun, by launching an offen- sive movement on what seems to be a large scale against the Austrians. With characteristic powers of re- cuperation and reorganization after defeat, the Turks are now showing their old mettle in an offensive movement against the grand duke with an energy which has repeat- edly caused the Russians to retreat in the past ten days. And this of- fensive is centered on the Caucasus front. A glance at the map will show the dangers which a successful Turkish offensive at this point will offer to the Russian armies which have marched southward to the im- mediate neighborhood of Kut-el- Amara since the surrender of the British in that stronghold, and east- ward to Trebizond and beyond. If the Turks should succeed in inflicting a decisive defeat upon the Russians in the Caucasus region they will place the Russian armies one hundred or more miles to the south in the gravest danger of be- ing cut off. In any event, the Turk- ish strategists are already in a po- sition to hamper the Russian lines of communication. In spite of the reverses which the Turks have recently suffered in Armenia and in the region east and north of Bagdad, it is yet too early to count upon the success of the Russian operations. Even a crush- ing disaster for the Russians is not beyond the range of possibilities. — < June 6, 1916. FIGHTING ON SUEZ The Suez Canal has' been called the Achilles heel of England. It has been assumed by many military authorities that the final undoing of the British empire would be brought about by a powerful blow struck at the narrowest link of the short sea road between London and India. Recently the attacks upon the Suez region by land and by air have furnished a minor feature of the news of the war. These attacks may or may not be the forerunners of a serious attempt to wreck the canal. But the admission of the possibility of such a movement on a VIS nil' ura\ l'sr 366 p.u s l:u-«;o scale h) England's enemies La indicated by t ho Largo number of troops that have bean massed alon>; the route of the canal by the British War Ofl British military experts have flouted the possibility o\' an effective assault upon the canal, But the men who are responsible for main- taning England's road to [ndia have taken ample measures to tinst ■ national disaster Is tin- neck of the woods that is railed Sinai Peninsula. Tin* defeat of the Turkish expedi- tion of 1 1.000 troops is the action near Romani, on the main caravan route out of Egypt, indicates Eng- land's ample preparations for the defense of the canal and the diffi- culties of :m\ attempt to wreck it. luousi :. 1916. The Naval War WAR AND THK HPKKfJH GENTLEMEN OF • «-r(j, like ;ill el e, under] nderful tranaforraation la 'j ii' ihlc oi Vftt The right noble Lord D< tor and manufacturer of the ci uiting idea, the one • in luii- I'm con cj iption, h;< .". ,<-n u one of the faire it flo rdcn of diction, I /i a recent interview in London he i the firm determination of iii tnaj< overnment to prosecute the conflict until tl - enernie are ui fcerly o ae. Bui the pearl i that drop from lord ihip' i lip Tb«r« nball be do pwci until certain thai there be no forth on tin cale hi Mi<- iu//<- "'' "bide Bat id Ui<- proper qnai If. ii u'-li wonderfti ing. We gee the Germam wince and to pull their coat tail down. We ■'•': the kiri':i.ioH ami t.lic raphy oi the whole on. I fcing about for the probable agent for thii nnrelenl ment, we are forced to believe tl it will be the Britii \\ na \ Come to thinb of it, the B nary hai been "hidinj - in ;j. land- locked harbor in the north, p tected by mine field i and th< le patrol of cb long arm. Ii. can hide whil* n. But all tl en our ititudc to the noble lord fo contribution to tl nob Jam 11, 191 THE MOEWE name ha I to the lift of nan r Moeu < 'i ' Wow <■ i '•'•• G man commerce <■■ rhich, d tramp, with fal - .'.' com - .. :..■ ..■ ent -I out of the i: .'-i Canal, i the entire B en Briti ; ' nd then cfl tured the Bi ti h liner Appam, ported "n and '-'it, her into Norfo] f;r./ ' man flag fly- at her taffraiL e Moeu '■: by far the most tbril "I in the naval pha e of I •. It. e element of the nv of the ed bad been of the elopmenti oi on. An'l of tl ment the i domination of the 430 | of the Appam b fo< of men rf an oceai rith the d the fcri- THE GRAYEST 366 DAYS umphant arrival into Hampton Roads in the murk of the morning, supply features to stimulate the imagination of a Joseph Conrad or a Clark Russell. W hatever additional facts may be disclosed by the investigation into the details of the activities of the and of her valorous men, to thorn will remain the memory of one of the most brilliant achievements of t ho sea — an achievement requir- ing superlative seamanship, courage unsurpassable and the sort of hardy enterprise which all the world is bound to respect. — Feb. 8, 1916. A SEA LAW PRECEDENT Fhe Appam incident will have an important bearing upon the sea law of the future. The decision which the United States will make on the - rnificant question of the disposal to bo made of the German prize in- volves the establishment of a prec- edent in a twilight rone of the rules of marine warfare. Existing international pracl governing the status of prizes in neutral ports are set forth in Chap- ter 13 of the Second Hague Con- vention. Article "-?! of this chapter reads A - may bo brought into a neutral port on account of unseaworthiness, stress of weather, or want of fuel pro- visions. It must leave as soon as the circumstances which justified its entry are at an end. If it does not. the neu- tral power must order it to leave at Once; should it fail to obey, the neutral power must employ the means at its disposal to release it with its officers ami crew and to intern the prise .vow. Article 22 supplements the pre- ceding provisions as follows: A neutral power must, similarly, re- lease a prize brought into one of its pons under circumstances other than those referred to in Article -I. Then comes the stipulation which, by contradicting the above rules, creates a one o\ uncertainty in the law of nations. Article 23 reads: A neutral power may allow prices to enter its pons and roadsteads, whether under COUVOJ or not, whin they are brought there to be sequestrated pending the decision of a prise court. It may have the prise taken to another of its ports. If the prise is convoyed by a warship, the prize erew may go on board the convoying ship. If the prize is not under convoy, the prize erew are left at liberty. If Article 23 had boon adhered to by all the powers signatory to the ivention as a whole, there would have been no knotty problem to solve in the A pro in ease. England, however, voted against this article, a- did her ally. Japan, and her pro- tege, Siam. England's reasons for withholding her adherence from Article 23 are apparent at a glance. Possessing colonies all over the world. Britain enjoyed, as she still enjoys, a posi- tion of supreme advantage for any na\ erations over the rest of the world. Island bases marked off all over the map give her ports within eas\ access of any part of the oceans. In addition, she holds a vast strategic advantage over all other nations by her control of the gateways through which those coun- tries would have to pass in taking prizes to their own ports. The American delegates to the conference refrained from voting on this article, and when they re- ported to the Senate on their acts they said that Article 23 consti- tuted "a revival of an ancient abuse." These delegates, be it re- membered, were headed by Joseph THE NAVAL WAB 853 II. Choate, who always ha- been English in hi- Leanings that he had difficulty in looking upon inter- national problems from a squarely American viewpoint. In contrast to the British and American attitude was thai of Renault, one of the French representatives of the con- ference, who construed the aim and the effeef of the article as tending to preveni or make infrequent tjie de- uction of pria To Renault's representations the British delegates replied with the argument that such a provision unnecessary even for the purp< designated, as the nations which did not desire to destroy prizes might agree nol to capture an This suggestion, of course, meant the abandonment by such nations of ef- fective methods of sea warfare and the relinquishment to Britain of a sori of monopoly in the capture of enemy ships, to the aggrandizement of her sea power. The decision in the Appam will be binding npon the Onited ites in any future war. In cj of a conflict across the Atlantic the Pacific, involving the establish- ment of a Long-distance bkx our navy would have to operate on the far side of either ocean. In h an evenf the question whether we could or could not use a neu- pori on the other side of I Atlantic or the Pacific for our priz won hi be of momentous impor- tance to ii- in our efforts to avoid the destruction of captured vessels. This is a vital consideration which the State department should keep clearly in mind in its endeav- ors to eliminate the twilight zone from the sea law of nation-. — Feb. 3, 1916. "PLAY UP, PLAY UP, AND PLAY THE GAME" The British third officer of the Appam has given an inter All other prisoners on that romantic ship praise the chivalry of their German captors. Only the third off:' the motive behind this j<: chivalry. The mo fear of mutin rd. The 1 two Germans were afraid to be rude. Oil the 429 English capti ild ha n and overpowered them. Apparently the politem shown a overcome all thought of such treachi e third officer describes the forbearance which the crazed Germans merely pretended to ha The German offici re all under orderc to be courteous and riot t;jk<; of- f'-rj -'-. Five or *ix times insults were offered them by passengei This usually took the form of calling ih<-/rj "swine." Once that kindly Englishman, Mr. Thackeray, wrote a verse which we commend to the attention of the third officer. He might even mem- orize it : Who missec or who wins the priz*; Go, lose or conquer as yon can, But if you fall or if you rise J',<- each, pray God, a gentleman. — /-V,. 9, 1916 "HEADS I WIN; TAILS YOU LOSE" The facility with which G Britain has been reversing her posi- tion on important i ms of the law of the sea is one of the impres- sive features of the war. When it suits her purposes, England adhe to the Declaration of London, which wa.~ called at her own behest, and 252 THE GBAVEST 366 DAYS which was, in effect, a codification of the existing law. When the Declaration of London does not suit her purposes, England invokes the Hague Convention of 1!)07, which comprised a series of international enactments, and which Great Britain did not sign. But despite her former rejection of the Hague Convention. Britain now i mokes that instrument be- cause it suits her to do so. Ambas- sador Sir Cecil Snring-IJiee. in his requesl for the release of i he Appam to her British owners by the Stale department, points out that such ac- tion is imposed upon America by the provisions of an article of that con- vention, which provides as follows : A prize may be brought into a neutral port on account of unseaworthiness. stress of weather or want of fuel or provisions. It must leave as soon as the circumstances which justified its en- try are at an end. If it does not. the neutral power must order it to leave at once : should it fail to obey, the neutral power must employ the means at its dis- posal to release it with its officers and crew and to intern the prize crew. The invocation by Croat Britain o( an international code to which she did not subscribe and to which heretofore she has refused to con- form, is explained by Ambassador Spring-Bice on the ground that al- though Greal Britain did not append her signature to the article in ques- tion, that article expresses the latest principle of the law of nations. This legal handspring, however, is after all not to he wondered at in view of Britain's persistent viola- tion of all international codes and ordinances from the beginning of the war. The idea seems to prevail at London that a British fiat can change the contraband list at will. stop the sending of foodstuffs and clothing to the non-combatant popu- lation of belligerents, hold up trade between neutrals, impose her own views as to the nationality of ships, irrespective of their flag and regis- try; take non-combatants of bel- ligerent countries from neutral ships — the provisions of the Declaration of London to the contrary notwith- standing. In the view of British legal au- thorities international law is law only when it enables them to win or bolster up a point in their own favor. When the code happens to controvert the British claim, so much the worse for the code!— Feb. 12, 1916. " THE MOEWE AGAIN The return of the German com- merce raider Moewe to a "home port"' — presumably Wilhelmshaven — after sinking or capturing fifteen enemy ships and sowing "points of the enemy coast" with mines, closes the second chapter of a thrilling tale of the sea which any maritime na- tion might envy. The arrival of one of her prizes, the Appam into Hampton Roads, was the first. How this tramp steamer, con- verted into a formidable engine of destruction, could have steamed out of Kiel canal in the teeth of the en- tire British naval power, to prey up- on British commerce, is mystery enough. But how this daring "Sea Gull" could have steamed back un- scathed, despite the mighty vow of the admiralty to capture or destroy her for the sake of the honor of the British navy, is a still greater mys- tery. "What hazards she must have risked ! What expedients she must have employed to escape the grim THE XAVAL WAB 253 fighting machines that must have hailed her again and again ! What cool courage, what sailorly resource- fulness Capt. Count von Dohna, the Moewe's commander, must have dis- played in that unprecedented cruise of "several months," as the official report of his exploits issued in Ber- lin vaguely puts it. The names of the Moewe and of her gallant skipper may well figure, even among British sailormen when peace shall have been restored, as rousing toasts of the sea. — March 7, 1916. THE APPAM The Appam case is not settled. The former British owners of the German prize are appealing to the United States District Court at Richmond to return the ship as be- ing unlawfully captured. The Rich- mond Evening Journal thus de- scribes the pending contentions of the two parties : It is understood that lawyers for the Germans will claim that under the treaty of 1828 German prizes in American ports are exempt from such legal processes as the libeling of the Appam. The British owners will contend that the 1828 treaty does not permit a prize to be run in unless it is accompanied by an armed warship. This was not done in the case of the Appam. The pertinent clause in the 1828 treaty between Prussia and the United States reads: The vessels of war of both parties shall carry freely the vessels taken from their enemies, nor shall such prizes be arrested, searched or put under legal pro- test when they enter the ports of the other party. It has been reported from Wash- ington that Secretary Lansing would rule that the 1828 treaty entitled Germany to hold the Appam at Nor- folk as a lawful prize. This ruling would automatically vacate the pro- ceeding before the Richmond court, and settle the matter. But the de- sired ruling seems strangely delayed. The application of the treaty is plain. Xo one denies that the Moewe was a war vessel. To "carry" prizes into an American port is not to lug them in. That would be im- possible. It means to conduct them in. The Appam was conducted into Norfolk by the Moewe, by a crew of over twenty men from that war ves- sel. That the captor herself should have to accompany the Appam is not required in the treaty, and is re- pugnant to common sense. America has more than a senti- mental interest in the matter. Sen- timentally we wish luck to the gal- lant Berg and his crew. Sentimen- tally we are a little critical of the mistress of the seas crying that she was not playing "for keeps" and wanting her. marbles back." But we have a deep national in- terest in the secretary's action. Eng- land wants to make it impossible for belligerents to send captured prizes into neutral ports unless accompan- ied by the captor. Obviously a cap- tor cannot afford to give up its sea duty for this convoy work. A prize accompanied only by a prize crew, if Britain had her way, would have to make for a home port of the captor. But only England has colonies, coal- ing stations and naval bases so scat- tered over the whole globe that she can as easily make a home port as a neutral port. Great Britain asks us to shackle every nation but her, and to shackle ourselves, in the matter of making prize captures on the high seas. 254 THE GRAYEST 366 DAYS In our next war we may not hold the seas. But American commerce raiders and seagoing submarines will take prizes far from our shores, in Asiatic or European waters. We want kept open the ability to send these prizes to the nearest neutral port in charge of prize crews. We do not want the efficiency of our war craft lamed by the obligation to run into port with every prize sent there; nor do we want the prizes compelled to make a perilous trip across the ocean to reach an American port. Again and again — for example, in the Paris conference of 1S56 — America has stood for the immunity o( private property at sea in war time. Britain has been that power which has successfully opposed this immunity. Well, let it be so. But if war ships can capture merchant vessels in war time, then let us all have the right of capture, and not have the right distorted so that it applies mainly to England. In the Appam ease the prize was a German ship, after the capture. Like other German ships, she de- serves asylum in our ports until the war is over. Nothing but a forced interpretation of the treaty of 1828 can vitiate this right. — March 28, 1916. THE NORTH SEA BATTLE The first really important battle between modern war fleets is the North sea battle of May 31. In the absence of accurate de- tailed knowledge it is impossible to benefit fully by the experience of the two fleets. We may assume, however, that the Zeppelin has been shown to be as important and indispensable in sea warfare as the areoplane is in land warfare. Another consideration may be made. Naval warfare to-day in- volves the co-ordinated mastery of a whole realm of scientific and tech- nical facts and principles. This mas- tery is only possible by utilizing to the utmost every invention and dis- covery and principle involved and by training men and officers until they have mastered the vast body of technical and scientific facts and practices. Instinct and tradition are not suf- ficient. Making all allowances, one must conclude that the Germans have shown that they have learned sea fighting as it is to-day, and that their naval prowess must be reck- oned as on a par with their military prowess on land. THE APPAM The Appam is handed back to England. Unless the Supreme Court grants the appeal of the Germans, an unexpected ending is given to one of the romantic events of the war. In January the Moeir,:. a con- verted German tramp steamer with a German naval crew aboard, raided the trade routes off the west coast of Africa. Eight British vessels were sunk. Their occupants were accu- mulated and put aboard a ninth cap- tured British steamer, the Appam, of the Elder-Dempster line. Under command o\' Lieut. Hans Berg, the Appam and her charges slipped through the allied patrol of the At- lantic and interned at Hampton Roads. The British owners disputed the legality of the act and claimed that the vessel still belonged to them. The THE NAVAL WAR 255 question turned on the interpreta- tion of the Prussian-American treaty of 1799, later adopted by the German empire. On this interpretation de- pended the British contention that German prizes, brought to American ports by prize crews, had no stand- ing. The treaty reads: The vessels of both parlies shall carry (conduct) freely the vessels taken from their enemies, nor shall such prizes be arrested, searched or put under legal pro- test when they enter the ports of the other party. Germany said that the Appam was lawfully conducted into Norfolk by Lieut. Berg, representing the cap- tor. Tlie British contention was that the Appam was not conducted into port, because the Moewe itself did not bring her in. The British contention was accepted by Judge Waddil, of the United States Dis- trict Court at Norfolk. The word "conduct" could be in- terpreted as America chose. So, in the interpretation adopted, farseeing consideration of our future interests should have played its part. The court had its interpretation made for it by Secretary Lansing, who in March delivered to Ambassador Bernstorff an opinion that the Prus- sian-American treaty did not pro- tect the Appam. Thereafter the de- cision of the United States Court was a foregone conclusion. As is so often the case in this war, the individual decision is unim- portant, the principle affected is large. It makes no particular dif- ference to us what happens to an in- dividual German prize. The effect of our decision on the sea law of the future is important. For it is by such decisions that international law is made. Our official decisions in this war have not only upheld all previous rights of the dominant sea power to proceed against its enemy's commerce, but we have acceded to wide extensions of those rights. On the other hand, all our decisions have aimed at denying similar rights to the warcraft of the power that does not hold the seas. Its weapons are, and always will be, submarines and commerce raiders. The policy is a good one for us if Ave have no interest in protecting ourselves against the contingency of war with a superior sea power. Or it is a good one for us if we have decided that such protection should be sacrificed in the interest of furthering the success of one bel- ligerent in this war. — July 31, 1916. Finances of the Belligerents A VOICE FROM THE WEST The following communication an a banker and manufacturer in M\ - - :.\ into - . 3 this Mr. C. K. Warren - N stock, without prejudice M to either group of warring power?, lie lives in close con:. with a middle western common made up of all nationalities. He enjoys '. and personal with a large number of I - same time in close ich wii . Making in: Phis - is judgment ; euliarly illuminatir v u. wwKin-N & CO Bai i - To the E :il: Sir — I ;ink it is g stak _ cs United s op tho $500,000,- 000 from I .... concerned, from any fig tho country has de- ed the country neutral : thai ; tho case, it is not 1 - - at to loau \ v - I -lis a \ uiiar s i, 0.. that th< $900,000,000 or $3 000,000,000 rily, which would tie op ss of funds in the country. S I another condition might dew a very large percentage of die in tho United States are in favor of maining neutral; fully 25 " . of the population are not in - y with tho allies by birth. Should they up - \v would not stand this kind of a loan, and - u sys- tematically to withdraw their fan - placing them as tho people placed their funds in 1907, it would brius; ou a very disastrous situation in the United S:a:es. the result of which would ho very un- pleasant to contemplate. It is a well- known fact that tho 25 per cent of the vo mentioned are the thrifty. sa\ element of tho country, a ate under atrol at least a considerable amount bank deposits. I do not believe hankers of the On v ates would loan their individual money to any one tight- ins: power — loaning their mon< - ent. ink this loan will dove' - - DOS situ.- A pie that has come to them six :o<.k Human nature <. if j man money, yoo much interested in his S as see that h - make a failure yon will do everything in your power to help him succeed — especially if thero is any of your - .. -our moi Mexico has de - ated thoroughly - need 1 ssis tho v :. ■ ernment iu . ins whu made with powers. idea of tho large eastern V untry loaning - de- sits Middle West to take up the larsio loan as contemplated in order help on: a very small gc of tho eas , ammunition will not pv be ■.rs. Q, K VI UUEER. Th-: mng MaH - in- dorse this ?ie Dhe s :nation is such that s tier - aid in taining our export - This ■\v a loan Ar - - and t Ls as eol- FINANCES OF Til 10 BELLIGERENTS Lateral. Given such securities a for- eign loan will be readily taken by the American Investing public and will stand as a straight commercial transaction beyond cavil from any source. — Sept. 10. L915. FINANCIAL EXHAUSTION, THEN PEACE The Bankers' Association of Eng- land has urged the British public to thrift and economy. In the last analysis the present struggle IS to be decided by silver bullets; The vasl resources of the allies arc finally being broughl into motion and must, according to this reasoning, win the day if the financial strength is avail- able t" keep them in being. A!road\ the war has altered all conceptions of what is possible in finance. The volume of money needed has heen so enormous that the biggesl previous operations in private banking dwindle into insig- nificance by comparison. The col- lective power of a nat ion stirred h\ patriotism has produced billions in- stead i\( tens o\' millions of dollars, and demonstrated how much strong- er the nation is as a w hole than any rest ricted corporal ion or group. War consumes shells, guns, iron, steel, clothing and food st nil's. It wears down railroad facilities, roads and motor trucks, and it kills and maims men. To produce shells, guns and cannon requires the most effective factory capacity, and a high degree o\' industrial organization. New conditions arise in warfare for which there must he quick adapta- tion; the sciences must product 1 new devices. The nation that has tin 1 hesl factory system, and is quickest and most skillful in applying scien- tific discoveries, proves its strength. Habits of thrift, willingness to work Ion-;' hours for the national cause, and to dispense with every- thing hut the barest necessities; the vitality and breeding capacity t<» pro- duce an excess of children I" make up for human wastage, these, taken together, are far more important than accumulated capital, for these are the living dynamic factors, while capital is the static advantage which, if once expended in non-productive purchases, ceases to exist. European securities sent to this country in payment of ammunition and other war supplies deplete permanently the capital resources of the nation which has sent them. An estimate of $9,000,000,000 as the cost o\' the war for the coming year i'ov England foreshadows a minimum national dcht of over $17,000,000,000. This means *!K!, r >,- ooo.ooo annually in interest charges. Before England could wage another war she must amortize this debt, which will require at least $250,- ooo.ooo annually. Soldiers,' ami sailors' pensions will aggregate an- other $225,000,000; in all $1,410,- 000,000 of fixed charges, Her normal budgel for the last three years has heen approximately $900,000,000. In order to maintain her position in the future as a domi- nating empire England must keep a larger army, which will mean ad- ditional expense. She must broaden her system of social insurance and old age pensions, which will add to her financial burdens! The above items create an after the war budgel of over $2,310,000,000 yearly. Can England, with 15,000,000 of population, permanently carrj a budget of approximately two ami a 258 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS half times the budget of the United States government, with a popula- tion of 100,000,000 people— a per capita charge six and a half times greater than that borne by the citi- zen of this country? If so, how much further can the burden be in- creased ? England's success in paying off the heavy debt after the Napoleonic wars has been pointed to as a prece- dent for the present situation, but the comparison does not hold. The end of the Napoleonic wars left England in practical control of the world's shipping, and international commerce at that time carried a margin of profit of from 50 to 100 per cent, instead of the mere hand- ling charge that exists to-day. Eng- land led the world in introducing and utilizing the steam engine and the factory system of production. Mechanical energy on a wholesale scale was, in England, brought to the aid of the human hand, and for almost two generations England alone was the workshop of the world. These peculiar circumstances cre- ated profits and opportunities which probably will never again come to any nation. The advantages that will arise from this war will come through the "super-organization" on a national scale of a nation's indus- trial energies, for it is becoming increasingly evident that modern in- dustrial machinery is most pro- ductive when organized on a national scale. Recognition of this fact is the secret of the power of the Ger- man state and of German industry. After the war, with man-power im- paired and industrial machinery de- ranged, a tremendous rivalry for commercial power will break out; and the times of fierce competition are not times of great profit, out of which to pay debts measured by billions. From the foregoing considera- tions it seems that the nations have reached the limit of their financial power because the burden already assumed equals, if it does not exceed, the taxing power of the state. This is true in a varying measure of all the nations involved. It foreshad- ows an early end to the war. — Dec. 28, 1915. FINANCIAL GRATITUDE Sir Edward Holden, the great English financier, tells us that "the government and people of the United Kingdom have been placed under a great obligation to American bank- ers for the magnificent spirit which they showed in buying straight out a loan of such magnitude." He is speaking of the Anglo-French loan of $500,000,000 floated here. Perhaps Sir Edward's sense of gratitude is enhanced by recollection of how differently England treated us in our hour of need. During the Civil War, R. J. Walker, who had been secretary of treasury under Polk, was sent abroad as special revenue agent in Europe to try to negotiate a loan. So bitter was the hostility of Lord Palmerston and Louis Napoleon that Walker had no success. But he found the confed- erate loan quoted on the London and Paris exchanges at par in gold. That was in the days when Brit- ish-built confederate privateers were destroying our merchant marine or driving it into British registry. Well may Sir Edward Holden feel gratitude. The most astute diplomacy of the war was that exhibited by the Brit- FINANCES OF THE BELLIGEEENTS 259 ish and French commissioners who induced our bankers to advance to the allies $500,000,000, protected by no deposit of American securities. At the time that our government was involved in grave diplomatic issues with both groups of bellig- erents, our bankers made a pledge of $500,000,000 in American money that we would take no measures against one group, the allies. No military success of the Ger- mans and no diplomatic success in the Balkans is to be compared with the success of Anglo-French commis- sioners who, after staging on the west front an attack that gained nothing and lost 60,000 men, sailed away from our shores with $500,- 000,000 of the money of Americans as hostages for our good behavior. We begin to understand the deep and studied courtesy with which his majesty's government treats our notes on the freedom of trade and mails upon the high seas. — March 7, 1916. The king is impressed by the tales of unrest. The loyalty of his sub- jects is more important to him than the payment of his debts. So he repudiates them. He turns to Wolsey : To every county Where this is question'd, send our let- ters, with Free pardon to each man that has denied The force of this commission. It is all so modern that one can- not but have a kindly feeling for the wag who, after Sir Herbert Tree had been called to the curtain, con- tinued to applaud and cried "Au- thor!"— April 7, 1916. "YOUR WARS IN FRANCE'' Those who see Sir Herbert Tree's great production of "Henry VIII." are struck with a passage in Act I., where are described the financial straits of England because of Eng- land's wars in France. The queen is telling the king of the general discontent through high taxation : The subjects' grief Comes through commissions, which com- pel from each The sixth part of his substance to be levied Without delay ; and the pretence for this Is nam'd, your wars in France. This makes bold mouths ; Tongues spit their duties out, and cold hearts freeze Allegiance in them. BRITISH AND GERMAN FINANCE PROBLEMS The British government on Mon- day is to impose a special tax of 10 per cent, on income from Ameri- can securities held by British invest- ors. The effect of this will be to expropriate one-tenth of the value of these securities. It is expected that, to avoid such expropriation, British investors, who have thus far refused to give up their American securities in exchange for British war bonds, will now dig up their Americans. The threatened expropriation is an interesting commentary on the difficulty of Great Britain to finance her vast purchases here. After these securities are mobilized and sold on the American market, what then? The Germans cannot buy abroad. They are like a man in a closed room. He throws his money into a corner and then walks over and picks it up again. There is appar- 260 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS ently no limit to the number of transactions that he can make with himself. The door is closed and none of the money can blow out. — May 27, 1916. ARMS AND CREDIT It is interesting to observe the very close connection between mili- tary success and finance. We hear that wars to-day are financial, that bankers can and do hold in their hands the power to stop war. It is not true as to the war finances of countries which finance themselves. Bankers cannot refuse the last ex- tremity of aid to their own govern- ment. Patriotism, public opinion and — in the end — financial conscrip- tion, all force them to render this support. But bankers will support a for- eign government only when its pros- pects for solvency are good, and military success is the best measure of this solvency. It happens that the allies are the ones who need for- eign financing. They need Ameri- can credit to pay for their huge purchases here. They do not at- tempt American credit except in con- nection with great military drives against the Germans. So with the British-French offensive last fall, which was followed by the half bil- lion Anglo-French loan. And in connection with the Russian drive to-day we read that fifty million dollars has been loaned by our bank- ers to the Russian government. The pending French credit in New York awaits a triumphal repulse of the Germans at Verdun. War is quite a military phenom- enon, after all. — June 16, 1916. A WISE CHILD The new French loan has had a phenomenally easy and rapid road to travel. It was "out" Wednesday. On Thursday (yesterday) it was listed on the Stock Exchange before the subscription books had been closed. Some children are born with sil- ver spoons in their mouths. Some have to worry along with tin spoons, or no spoons at all, the best they can. Some loans have to welter about for months and years before they can be put through. Others are listed in a day. It is all a matter of the judicious selection of parentage. Children cannot select their parents. Loans can make the choice, sometimes. And the French loan has proved an exceedingly wise child. It has se- lected its parentage with consum- mate skill.— July 21, 1916. INTERNATIONAL FINANCE A great difficulty against which Washington runs when it makes any attempt to keep this country on an even keel of neutral conduct toward both belligerents is the fact that nearly our entire financial system is a stockholder in the enterprise of the allies. The wide dispersal of the Anglo- French $500,000,000 loan, the French $100,000,000 loan, the $50,- 000,000 of Russian notes, has per- meated the banks and the moneyed classes of this country. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Whoever holds the securities of an enterprise is vitally concerned in its success, especially when, as in this case, success means solvency. FINANCES OF THE BELLIGERENTS 261 Any attack upon that enterprise comes to be regarded by the security holders as an attack on the solid foundations of society, on our civil- ization itself. A proper recognition of the impossibility of interested persons being impartial is expressed in our federal law that the Inter- state Commerce Commissioners, who are to pass judgment on our rail- roads, shall not be chosen from hold- ers of railroad securities. Such holding debars from the position. The danger that financial partici- pation in the war might ruin our neutrality as a nation was expressed by President Wilson in his procla- mation of August 18, 1911 : We must put a curb upon every transaction that might be construed as a preference of one party to the struggle before another. It was in accordance with this sentiment that, in this same August, 1911, the President told American bankers not to make a loan of $50,000,000' to France. In the fall of 1915 an unsecured Anglo-French loan of $500,000,000 was floated here. The reason generally given for allowing it was that our foreign trade could not continue otherwise. The truth is that we could have forced the sale or mortgaging here of American securities and securi- ties of neutral European and .South American countries held in France and England. These securities have been thus sold or mortgaged to us since the Anglo-French loan began to be exhausted. Had we from the first insisted on sales of our securi- ties or secured loan.- we should to- day have in our hands over a half billion additional of our own stocks and bonds and the stocks and bonds of neutral governments. When we decided to finance the only belligerent group to which we could sell, the great mistake was the unsecured loan. The mistake was not in the financial risk to the givers of the loan, for it is prob- ably quite safe. The mistake was a national one. The mistake was to allow the financial interests of the country to give the allies half a billion of the country's money un- secured, for this put into the hands of England, with which we were engaged in a serious diplomatic controversy, a priceless hostage for our good behavior. This aspect of the loan was the great victory of the Anglo-French commissioners. It was the diplomatic victorv of the war.— July 31, 1916. ANOTHER BRITISH WAR LOAN HERE There is to be another British war loan floated in the United States. As to its size there is no definite statement. It may be as big as the Anglo-French loan of $500,000,000. There probably will be a lot of col- lateral hypothecated as security for the payment of the debt. This idea is not relished by the British. They consider the credit of his majes- ty's government sufficient guarantee. These are parlous times, however, and Americans are the only persons in the world with money to lend, so, as always is the case, the lender is able to prescribe conditions. Foreign loans of this character may be pleasing to our vanity, but it is doubtful if they are going to do us any lasting good in their pres- ent form. The banking houses that handle them make immense profit and the interest is at a rate to tempt investors. But it never seems &62 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS to have dawned upon our financial Leaders, or if it is known to them they have ignored the fact, that while we are stiffening ami support- ing Europe financially in the war game, Europe is taking care to safe- guard if not to strengthen its grip on world commerce. Indirectly our money is made to maintain Euro- pean control of international trade and prevent us from assuming the commanding position or control which otherwise would he ours. Geographically and naturally we should control the commerce of South America. Praiseworthy ef- forts are being made by certain groups of men to promote good re- lations with Brazil, the Argentine, Uruguay, Paraguay and the other republics of Latin America. One of our hanks has established a branch at Buenos Aires. A loan or two has been made to the Argentine govern- ment and we have been led with promise of an enduring business. Commerce follows money. The commerce of the Argentine is in the hands of the British because British money is invested in the Argentine. Let us see where some of it rests. Take the Argentine railroads, for example. The Argentine ranks ninth among the nations of the earth in railroad mileage. The principal transportation lines of the republic are the Buenos Aires Great South- ern, the Buenos Aires Western, Mid- land Railway Company, the Buenos Aires and Pacific, the Central Ar- gentine, the Cordoba Central, the Entre Rio Railways. Argentine Great Western and Argentine Trans- andine. The chairman of the Buenos Aires Great Southern is David Simpson, of London. The chairman of the Buenos Aires Western, Sir Henry Bell, of Lon- don, is a director of the Buenos Aires Great Southern. The chairman of the Midland, Mr. Frank Henderson, is a hrother of Lord Farrington, formerly Sir Alexander Henderson, senior part- ner of the London hanking house of Greenwood & Co. The chairman of the Central Ar- gentine is Sir Joseph White Todd, of London. The chairman of the Buenos Aires and Pacific is Lord St. Davids, of London. The chairman of the Cordoba Central is Mr. Follett Holt of London. As with the railroads, most of the banks, gas and electric plants, the land companies and dock companies are under British influence. Shares in Argentine corporations are dealt in freely upon the Stock Exchange in London. British ships carry Argentine products to Europe and transport British manufactures to the Argentine. To-day Great Britain is doing almost as much trade with the Argentine as before the war. lias any one heard of the British selling their holdings of Argentine corporations to the United States in order to finance their war opera- lions? The Canadian Pacific Railroad, the greatest transportation system of the world as to mileage and potential possibilities, was built by an American, is managed by an American, has nearly 30 per cent. (of its trackage in the United States, and is helicvod to be owned to-day by Americans, but is managed by British for British benefit and to American disadvantage. FINANCES OF THE BELLIGERENTS 263 lias any one heard of a British proposition to turn over control of the Canadian Pacific to American owners or to break down the tariff wall that strangles the free flow of commerce between Canada and the United States in return for the many hundreds of millions of dol- lars America has lent and ie to Lend to aid Great Britain in her time of greatest peril? One of the largest oil fields of Mexico is owned by British interests of which Lord Cowdray, formerly Sir Weetman Pearson, is the head. Mexico is the next door neighbor of the United States. Oil is the fuel of to-morrow, more even than to-day. The Mexican fileds promise to be the greatest of all producers. Has any one heard of the English disposing of the great British com- pany, the Mexican Eagle, to get funds for prosecuting their war operations ? The British have sold back to the United States a lot of British hold- ings in American railroads and American industrials, but they have guarded with jealous care every- thing which means assurance of British domination in world com- merce. This is right so far as it goes. Nations must be selfish so far as their material interests are con- cerned. By adherence to a fixed policy of subordinating everything to the good of Great Britain, to the fostering and preservation of Brit- ish trade and commerce, the English have spread their business lines in every quarter of the globe, and have made Great Britain powerful and prosperous. British statesmen work with the one idea of the power, the prestige and the prosperity of the British Empire. British financiers invest the funds of the empire with a design to expanding British com- merce and British influence. They think of Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester, Sutton, Newcastle. America is passing or has passed from the stage of agriculture to that of manufacture. We are at the point where we have only a moder- ate amount, of our farm production to sell to the outside world. We need our meats and our grains for ourselves, in fact, we import meats to-day from South America, and we have imported corn. If our manufacturing industries are to develop as they should we must find broad markets for our boots and our shoes, our cotton goods, our steel, our agricultural machinery — everything we make — in every quarter of the globe-. We never can hope to do so, we never can expect to labor in this field except under a handicap while Europe owns the ships of the seas, the railroads of Asia, Africa and Latin America and controls the channels of finance. The ships, the railroads and the banks make up the great vehicles of commerce. How the wise gentlemen who sit in the council chambers and the counting rooms of Europe must -mile when they consider the op- portunity America has had and still has, but which American statesmen, American bankers and American business men do not see and have made no real effort to grasp. How Downing street and Lom- bard street must gloat over the in- nocence of America that gives its hundreds of millions upon hundreds of millions at Europe's bidding and leaves to Europe the prize of the trade of the world. 26 I THE GRAVEST 366 PAYS 1 1 may be a joy to -I. 1'. Morgan & Co. to earn through foreign loans in two wars more than the laic J, 1'. Morgan left as tlio result o( a life- time of activity; but what is there in thai o\' lasting benefit to Ameri- can industry? Not a dollar o( American money should ho put out in the form of a foreign loan unless ii means more business not only now hut also in the future for America. Wo ran af- ford io finance countries it such financing moans opening up new trade for American industries, more work tor American labor, more freight for American railroads. more cargo for American ships. more building ot American \e to \oico this gen- eral interest as against the purely sellish interest o^ the banker, and to phnc our whole scheme of finance on a broader and higher plane than hanker-' commissions and participa- tions. To protect the public interest in this way was the theory on which the reserve hoard legislation was urged on Congress; it is the theory back o\' the rural credits law just enacted. Why then, it is asked, does not our Treasury department at Washington act with full compre- hension of the vast possibilities for the promotion of our foreign inter- ests, through the free use of our Mione\ resources by foreign nations, FINANCES OF THE BELLIGEBENTS 365 soon to be keen competitors with os in the markets of the world ? The point made by The Mail reader if indisputably sound. The Federal Reserve Board has >m un- doubted righl to a voice in the mak- ing of these loans and should ' ercise it. The day will come — let ii- hope not too late — when the re- serve board's policies will be broad- ened beyond the narrow lines of commission bouse banking into the wider, more helpful field of states- manship in finance. That is to -ay, the Federal Reserve Board, when it realizes its true function, will to it, as the great government ban of Europe do, that the money of the people is employed in the broad service for the care and promotion of the interests of the people, whether at home or abroad. From the day that our east v. ern territory began to develop as the granary of the world, its prog] was checked by the exorbitant de- mands of eastern bankers for the use of money to ship farm products to market. Year after year the nps and downs of the money market at crop-moving time were the football of stock speculation, and on more than one occasion involved the Tre ury department at Washington in unpleasant notoriety. it- con: whatever it might be, was alwi the objeci of attack by politicians and speculators. The .-took market responded feverishly to their manip- ulation. Farmers suffered, -ecurity holders suffered, until the policy of allowing eastern center- controlling huge sums of money to be the sole arbiters in the matter became too obviously against the public inter- Then cam*;- the federal rese law, making it possible to meel the needs of the country without squeez- ing money rates to exorbitant fig- ures; riow we have the rural credits law, which, despite its glaring faults, recognizes as a function of govern- ment the duty of encouraging the development of farm land- by loa under government direction. We have thus made a fair -tart toward solving the problem of the most advantageous use of our mon in domestic affair- through government co-operation ; but a new duty faces the government as a re- sult of the war in Europe, and a limitless opportunity to develop American trade and American inter- abroad. What good to as is to be the money power of the world if we cannot use that power to be the trade power of the world ? it will not long be our.s unless we use it in that w- The whole world is seeking our d. We are no longer a debtor nation. The world owes us money and wants to owe US more-. Herein lies the great opportunity for the America of to-morrow. Are we to lose it because we will not take ad- %e of the lesson offered us by the example of other nation-? On- • change our ways of hand- ling the gigantic foreign loans ■ making, America will reap little or no advantage, aside from seeing the interested bankers making their commissions and controlling highly profitable munition contracts. Their wealth as individual- is enormously increased ; the nation'- wealth and the nation"- permanent industrial re not helped a bit. It is little short of a crime against our national inr that the gov- ernment -hou Id make no effort to clear the i els for American for- itst? THE GRAVEST 866 PAYS d trade through the medium oi our foreign loans, however. Such Loans would not be possible without the aid of the Federal Reserve Board, which, in essence, moans without the weal influence of the government in expanding credits. Why do we not say to England, as Ing !'.:.' has heretofore pointed out, that the loan to her will be made in return for a direct mentation in the Canadian Pa cine Railroad board: Every bank- ing house that makes a loan in- 5 upon such representation, or ownership. Why, then, should not this government ask the same terms .:1a nd or France or Germany — or any other nation that seeks to borrow from us? In the case of the Canadian Pacific, u would be wholly within OUT reasonable rights to in- sist upon representation in the con- ign-owned railroad that ha- ' its mileage within our borders. It competes directly h our own railroads, which are called upon to obev our more rigid regulations, our high wage stand aid. In a word, our money resources should be utilised in a national sense to develop and strengthen our place in the world. We should not withhold money from other nations, nor drive bargains as to interest rate, commissions and part ieipat ions that are not creditable J that is the banker's part of the nogotions. 'The government's part is to see that American interests are directly aid- ed by the transaction. We have many examples in South America o( the wisdom oi government partici- pation in the terms o( foreign loans. The trade of South America is prac- tically controlled by England, Ger- many and France through their banking interests. Our merchants cannot make headway down there so long as our Federal Reserve Board goes no further in its activity in foreign loan matters than to 0, K. the terms made by individual bank- ers and ignoring the higher interests of the nation. — Aug. 16, L916. Conditions in Allied Countries CONSCRIPTION IN ENGLAND If the wsa at of tu in E that Ei land 'A'ill tf.- far to make up for e confl - f. 'J I ful nai iJie pline in [ m for military i [t ■/J i fixa- tion of 1.' .and would be J of national tnr many and - mai that come fr< I dieciplii — &p*. 21,1915. FINLAND SEEKS OLD FREEDOM People of Grand Duchy, Bereft of Right3, See Hope in Douma's Stand By ~ v.w. TOHJOH Among the racial - _ _ that are being waged within the Russian empire, one of the ing i:-; that which Finland ifl making for the EL ( Febrtu had be ttha of par. of all • ■A with □ of the <•" hat had be i for mu 'ir- tually an • Hus- .n any for foreign wars. Flood Land With Police To fad] it, the I r.. - oat aintain Finland* author of a large ii issian in I e rand dm Finn s r ^ed with tl .' in tl na- ent. Finnish 3 THE GRAVEST 366 PAYS nation protested in a manner un- precedented at that time, although a few years later tried with partial success in the struggle of the l>el- gian people for manhood suffrage and the prohibition of plural voting. Throughout Finland, in every indus- try. on every railroad, and even in some of the agricultural sections, a general strike was ordered and en- forced with such success that in 1905 the Ciar, as Grand Duke, issued a ukase restoring the Liberties of the country in their entirety. The organization of the tirst Pin- nish Diet under the new order oi things, in L907, demonstrated the progress which Finland, in spite of the dangers which had threatened its fundamental institutions, had ac- complished in the direction of true democracy. The Diet was elected on the principle of proportional repre- sentation, and among its member- ship were \ K) women, who took their seats in the chamber at llelsingfors on equal terms with men. Few Illiterate Finns \- a background to this povern- ment o( the people, by the people and for the people, was an educa- tional system based on the most modem lines and designed to place the Furnish people abreast of the leading nations oi the world. 11- literacy is practically unknown in Finland. But this state of affairs was not destined to last long. In the per of reaction which followed the dis- solution ol' the tirst Douma a new menace arose for the constitution the grand duchy. Bit by bit, the Diet was shorn of its powers b} de- - from the Czar's capital, until the country, despite the forms o\ mocracy, was made amenable to gov- ernment from Petrograd. Most o( the important functions of parliament were vested either in the Douma, itself struggling to maintain a precarious existence, or else were nullified by the power of veto, exercised by the ministry of the interior or other centers of authority in Petrograd. Hut the revocation of rights which most seriouslv affected the Finnish people was the renewal o( the order which took the army out of the con- trol of parliament and made it. for all purposes except that o( financial support, an integral part of the im- perial Russian army, to he employed at the discretion of the ministry of war at Petrograd. Finnish Judges Imprisoned \ gainst those measures Finland had a last line ox defense — it- judi- ciary. Judges of the highest courts protested vigorously against uncon- stitutional decrees from Petrograd. Failing o( favorable decisions, the Russian government again and again imprisoned judges, tried them on the charge tof enmity to the state and meted out punishment. These protests by Finland, how- ever, failed of their direct purpose. In the present war one of the most serious grievances of the Finnish people has been the employment of Finnish troops on the east front, de- spite judicial rulings of the prin- ciple involved in such employment as contrary to the wording and the spirit of the Finnish constitution. Although they have found appar- ently irremovable obstacles at every point in their struggle with the au- tocracy, the Finns are confident of sin -- - an outcome of the present Id-conflict. CONDITIONS IN ALLIED COUNTRIES V(i!» Their confidence is based upon the determination which lias been shown in the past two months by the Douma to maintain its vigorous stand for the modernization of the entire Russian political system, and to the support which lias been ac- corded to the Douma. by sonic of the strongest men in Russia outside of the ranks of the bureaucracy. Douma Gives Finns Hope Among the items in the compre- hensive programme advanced by the Douma. is a demand for the restor- ation of the ancient rights of Kin- land, maintained by the Finns with a single purpose since their separa- tion from Sweden and now swept away by imperial decrees. The Finns, in common with all the liberal forces in the empire, cherish the conviction that the au- tocracy, under pressure of reverses, will realize the necessity of substan- tial concessions to the popular will, and that one of the first results of the struggle to he resumed by the representatives of the Russian peo- ple at the session of the Douma to be called next month will he the restoration of the Finnish constitu- tion in all its vigor. — Oct. 1!>, 1915. BRITAIN'S WAR TRADE The growth of British commerce during the first year of the war, as shown by current statements of Brit- ish hanks and corporations, recalls the period of similar prosperity which Great Britain achieved in the Napoleonic wars. During the struggle with France, British ship owners acquired the carrying trade of the world, and shareholders of British ships and corporations amassed fortunes while continental Europe was bleeding on Napoleonic battlefields. I n the present crisis history is re- peat ing itself with impressive ex- actness. Something of the spirit that animated (he commercial mind in England at the beginning of the war last year was indicated by the campaign to "capture the (Jerman trade," and was inaugurated with vigor soon after the first, gun had been fired. That this slogan against England's foremost rival in the markets of the world has met, with some measure of success is demon- strated by the jubilant statements of British hanks and corporations) On this side of the Atlantic there is food for profund thought, in the fact that hampering restrictions upon American commerce <>n the high seas have accompanied this successful British campaign to cap- ture Germany's world trade. The commercial opportunities arising out of the war belonged to America if to any nation. — Nov. :5, 1915. FRANCE CALLS OUT HER BOYS The intensity of the determina- tion of the French people to keep ii p the struggle until a decisive end shall have hen reached is indicated strikingly by the action of the Cham- ber of Deputies in passing the bill authorizing the government to call the recruits of the class of 11)17 — hoys of eighteen — to the colors. These hoys, it appears, are more vigorous physically, stronger moral- ly, cleaner-lived, better-bred, bet- ter-balanced than any generation since the Napoleonic period, as a result of the intensification and the 0«N ?0 THE GRAVEST 366 PAYS the national life which have boon born of legislative measure and patriotic appeal since the beginning of the war. This i 100,000 hoys, grown to be men amid the stress of a gi- gai - ggle, France has decided to throw into the scales ol war in the passionate fa turning the balance of events. These are her dearest and her best, her hope of the futuro — the pledge of her very 1: any evidence were r .hat ua.ce is not pi I to lis talk of peace at this jnner. rtentous events, her latest decis- ion furnishes it with dramatic force, —P:\ 6, 191? THE BRAVERY OF THE IRISH I - i haw met :' ians — who would havo dreamed it a year ago ! — and I aved a match ". sold'. - orite weapon, tayonet [ official report from London, in de- scr scape of the Tenth - n from capture or destruci on its retreat toward the edits the achievement chiefly to the gallantry of the Mun- stor Fnsiloers. the Connaught Rang- - and the Dublin Ftisdoors. h\ the three wars; which I havo fought since the il year 1912, the Bulgarians fa - d a striking predilection for oold s: as a \ tense. At Kirk Kolisso. at Adrianoplo. at T< ktalja and at almost every engagement in between, the Bulgarian command, "N;- nosh — at them with the bayo- has never failed to start the hardy, swift soldiery, literally a nation in arms, with a dash and a reckless disregard v.th and mutilation which have won the undivided admiration of military observers. And now it has the Irish to meet thorn at their own game — ■ a Irish who have cov- ered the name of Ireland with glow and with blood during all the cen- turies whenever an appeal has boon made to their responsive souls. Irish with the Bulgarians is to bo explained on psychology . rands, there is green the two songs, their belief in supernatural and th folk-tales and traditions. The sad note which I - oing oar do- :s in Irish folk-music is dis able also in the folk-music of the Bulgarians, which always contains 1 beneath the lilt. ^ Irishman, like the too whom he has checked to tl n- livis Ing tore or extermination, is qui( v. impati ras and care- death. like, and the Irish o gathered new laurels to add to The accumulation which the cen- tal - old F.rin. Dg-s undving. v i . What that two such gallant folk should be engaged in extermi- nating each What a p e Bulgarians should met, not with the hand- elas] friendship, but with the murderous points - — it. 1915, •THE SPECTER OF TOO LATE' •• "l wontfcf if ir is too lata — too lato. the fatal words of this war. Unless «,< quicken our movements damnation will CONDITIONS INT ALLIUD COUNTIMKS 271 befall the greal cause tor which so much blood has been shod."- — David Lloyd George, British minister Of munitions, in mi appeal for "» acceleration of the pro- it net ion of munitions. There is something of world-wide pathos and significance in Lloyd George's plea i<> England, and es- pecially to labor, in this critical stage of the great war. The Lesson he conveys is of particular applica- tion to the United States. !t must. be remembered thai it is the spokes- man of the greatest industrial na- tion of the present or the p:ist who is pointing out the peril of to-day to his countrymen. This peril con- sists in the failure of the vast in dustrial system of Great Britain to adjsut itself to the requirements of the hour of Eate. It is an admission of continued inefficiency after more •than 'a year and a half of the most strenuous efforts to eliminate ineffi- ciency thai have ever been made by a mighty nation. And the failure of the industrial branch of the machinery of that na- tion to do its work, when upon its work depends the very life of the empire, is a reflection of the ineffi- ciency disclosed in other branches of the British mechanism — in a muddled War office, which has found it neeessary to change commanders on the main fighting line in the middle of a campaign; in a bewil- dered Foreign office, which has been caught napping while Germany was opening- up a. way to Suez by diplo- macy; in the entire social structure of the mightiest empire that history records. Shall America take advantage of England's hitter experience, or shall we defer the vital work of organ- izing our rosourees — human and material — until if is "too late," and "damnation" has hefallen the great cause of our democracy? — Dec. X2, L915. AMERICA, AWAKE! We can k<> to the trenches mid say to Ilic soldiers: "We are sorry we cannot get tin' necessary nuns to enable you to win through in L916, because trade union regulations stand in the wa.v." The oilier alternative is thai we send io die kaiser and tell him frankly thai We cannot go on. Time is vital, time is victory, and lime is life. There liave already been 530,000 casualties, Including mote than 300,000 since the agreement between the trades unions and the government in March. Victory is not possible unless the British workman follows the example of his French comrades and sets aside every rule and regulation that tangles the foot steps of victory. The Russian retreat was due to the aid i he German workman gave his com rades in the held by manufacturing an emlless supply of guns and shells. The French workmen have enabled France to successfully face Ibis terrible machine. This war is an earthquake which is upheaving the very rocks of European life. All this chatting about relaxing a rule and suspending a custom is out of place. Vuii cannot haggle with an earth- quake.- David Lloyd George, British minister of munitions, in a pled to Brit- ish union labor uri/iiif) a snsix-nsion of union rules in onler to facilitate the manufacture of tear sui>i>lies. The ahove utterances by the man whom England regards as the great leader in the crisis throw a piercing light upon one aspect of Britain's frantic efforts to repair the damage done by her nn preparedness. An- other and equally vital aspect of the same condition of unreadiness for supreme events is suggested by the clamor which is raging about 272 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS the personnel of the Asquith cabi- .net. The cabinet is accused of in- efficiency, of inexcusable delays, working sad havoc to Britain's cause; of incapacity to grasp big events and to deal with them in a big way. Americans who think should draw a moral from this situation, bor- dering upon chaos. First — It is criminal to send mil- lions of men to the firing line and leave it to private interests to say whether these men shall be backed by the supplies without which their presence in the trenches is a form of suicide by orders from above. Every soldier at the front needs three men in the rear to see to it that he is furnished with the in- dispensable munitions in a plentiful and uninterrupted stream. Second — Given the existence of such a system, working smoothly, and with automatic perfection, the nation must have absolute con- fidence in the management which is sending thousands of men to face death. That management must pos- sess the ability and the far-sighted- ness which would justify such con- fidence — a confidence without which victory is impossible. It behooves every thoughtful American to put to himself this question : What must we do — what must every individual citizen do — to make certain that we shall have a govern- ment which shall deal efficiently with our men, our material and our fac- tories when vital problems of exis- tence shall press for a solution on any fateful to-morrow? We may already be on the threshold of that to-morrow. — Dec. 29, 1915. "LOOK FIRST UPON THIS PICTURE AND ON THIS" It is instructive to see how differ- ent men react to a crisis when it comes upon them. That response shows what the man is. It is doubly interesting to view the varying re- sponses of nations to supreme tests. A supreme test confronts Eng- land and Germany. The utmost of self-sacrifice and restraint are de- manded from their citizens. From Germany the news dis- patches tell us that production of German breweries, long restricted to 60% of normal, has been reduced to 45% of normal, by order of the Bundesrath. From England we are told of the unexampled production and consumption of intoxicants. Fresh in every mind is the memory of the vain attempt, earlier in the war, to curtail drinking in the Brit- ish Isles. Is democracy a failure? Cannot a people of its own free will im- pose upon itself the restraint neces- sary for its salvation? Now, Sir Alfred Booth, chairman of the Cunard lines, tells us that the carriage of materials for the breweries and distilleries of Eng- land is absorbing the services of the ships of the country on a gigantic scale. He says: Before long the country may have to choose between bread and beer. Is the democratic form of gov- ernment doomed because to its citi- zens liberty means license and be- cause they are unwilling to make the sacrifices of appetite necessary to guard their national existence? — Feb. 3, 1916. CONDITIONS IN ALLIED COUNTRIES 273 THE GRANDMOTHER OF RUSSIA There is a brave and gentle old woman of seventy-two, kept by the Russian government in exile in the Arctic circle, in a temperature which sometimes drops as low as 55 degrees below freezing. Her ex- istence is apt to be forgotten by the world amid the roar of cannon and the fulminations of statesmen. Her name is Ekaterina Breshkovskaya. Her crime is that she collected in the United States, and took with her to Russia, a sum of money to help the cause of liberalism in Rus- sia. Such activities are frequently regarded in the great northern em- pire, now avowedly fighting the menacing specter of Prussian mili- tarism, as a high offense against the state. So Ekaterina Breshkovs- kaya — "Babushka" Ekaterina — was sent by a resentful and uneasy autocracy to the wilds of Irkutsk, where her voice cannot reach her countrymen across thousands of versts of snow. She has been heard from again by her friends in Boston — this woman whom an autocracy found necessary to consign to the snows of the Arc- tic circle in order to stifle the plead- ings of her heart for liberty, for jus- tice. To Alice Stone Blackwell, who befriended her on the trip to America which proved her undoing, "Babushka" Ekaterina writes: Every minute when I am out of doors I am followed by a row of policemen, and one of them enters the house and even the apartment where I am staying. She is guarded with cruel close- ness — this enlightened old woman whose eyesight is failing, and the great dread of whose life is that total blindness may bring the night to her soul where her body is yet living. And yet, amid the spiritual mist which is closing upon her with the waning light for her eyes, this martyr to liberty — martyred by a self-exploited champion of democ- racy in its struggle against Prus- sian militarism — is cheerful with the cheerfulness of great souls which are strong in the justice of their cause. The gentle-spirited old woman who has frightened an em- pire writes to Miss Blackwell : Do not be sorry for my eyes. The oculist says my eyes will serve me long enough when carefully used. Long enough for what? Long enough for the days of snow-daz- zling light which may yet remain to her. Long enough to read the let- ters from her friends which may yet reach her before those days shall have ended. Long enough, per- haps, to see her beloved people free. And while "Babushka" Ekaterina is waiting for the realization of this hope long deferred, the government which sent her to that living grave among the snows is solemnly as- suring Christendom that it is fight- ing for the cause of democracy against the menace of the confed- erated forces of militarism and of reaction. — March 15, 1916. THE TREND IN RUSSIA The resignation of Alexi Khvo- stoff as minister of the interior is an ominous sign of the direction of the political wind in Russia. When the appointment of Khov- stoff to an important cabinet post was announced less than three months ago, every attempt was made by Russian official organs to emphasize the circumstances of his selection. •JM THE CRAY EST doti PAYS Khvostofl was a member of the Douma, who had participated in the criticism directed at the war otliee and the ministry ot the interior for the shortcomings of the government in the conduct of the war and of the internal administration. The inclusion of this malcontent in the highest personnel of the empire was pointed out as an indication of the government's intention to admit the people to 8 share in the work of governing. The entrance of Khvostoff into otliee created, as it was designed to create, an impres- sion abroad that the autocracy had been wrongly accused of a purpose to gag the Douma and ignore the people Khvostoff, however, quickly dis- covered that the inner ring m the cabinet had no intention of relin- quishing anv of its prerogatives or o( permitting a representative of the people to do anything except lend his name to their irresponsible pro- ceedings. His efforts to introduce something o( popular government into the conduct o( his ministry broke down against the blank wall of bureaucratic opposition. Like many good men before him. he found out that official Russian liberalism was limited to words and phrases borrowed from coun- tries in whieh parliamentarism is a fact and not a blind for autocratic adventurers. So. bowing to the in- evitable, he has relinquished his portfolio. Thus ends another dream o( the regeneration of Russia from above, and its reconstruction into a de- mocracy by imperial ukase. And if conclusive evidence of the sinister significance of the withdrawal of Khvostoff were needed, it is to be found in the fact that he is to bo succeeded by Stunner, the premier — Stunner, the friend of von Elehve. of Kishineff memories; Stunner, the man of Kishineff methods.— March 88, 1916. A WARNING FROM RUSSIA At the moment when the state and army chiefs of the entente are in conference in Paris, perfecting their plans for a closer co-operation for the remainder of the war, a sig- nificant drama is enacted at I'ctro- grad. Selecting the time when the i-sues o( the war, including possibly the terms o( peace, are under con- sideration in tlie French capital, the Russian minister o( foreign affairs, M. Sazonoff, lavs a rough finger on one o( the sore spots o( the entente — the future status o( the Darda- nelles. That important strait, which once was the main roadway of com- merce and civilization, is not to be neutralized, M. Sazonoff informs the Duma in reply to a question. No agreement for such a neutraliza- tion has been made, announces the minister, and none will be made with the consent of Russia, he adds more significantly. It is not neutraliza- tion that Russia seeks. It is not neutralization that she expects from her two major allies whose tleets are cruising about at the mouth of the straits. It is possession that she will insist upon — not only pos- session o( Constantinople but pos- session id' the sea-way. without; which Constantinople is of little value as the depot of Russian com- merce. Ami the selection of this moment to make the announcement is not the least significant circumstance of CONDITIONS IN ALLIED COUNTRIES 275 the declaration. The conference in Paris is smoothing out the last wrinkles in the international situa- tion as it affects the entente pow- ers. Wnile it is using the flat-iron of diplomacy on the international linen, along comes the plain-speak- ing Sazonofl with something that Looks very like a threat to spoil the whole job. Lest the rest of the powers taking part in the confer- ence should fail to apprehend the full meaning of his position, he takes pains to commit himself pub- licly before the Duma. Russia will have no neutralization of the Dar- danelles — if she can prevent it. Behind M. 8azonon?s little talk before the representatives of the Russian people is a bitter Russian disappointment with past perform- ances and an apprehensive sus- picion of present conditions. Rus- sia noted with misgivings that, at the beginning of the Dardanelles operations, Great Britain seized the islands of Imbros, Lemnos, and Tenedos, with the Rabbit archi- pelago. By these seizures the Brit- ish navy secured control of the mouth of the Dardanelles, a control so complete that even a seagull would be taking a serious risk if it undertook to fly in or out without leave of the British guns. The islands thus seized were needed, ostensibly at least, for use as bases for troops and supplies during the Oallipoli operations. The Gallipolj operations ended, and still the islands which guard the gate to Constantinople and the route of Russia's commerce with the outside world, remain in British hands. This is a circumstance which was bound to produce intense irritation in Russia, especially in view of the fact that Russia could have been in- trusted with the task of temporary caretaker of the islands after the Oallipoli adventure had been aban- doned and was not. So now, in the last stage of the completion of a comprehensive agreemenl covering all. points among the power- of the entente, Russia comes forward with her claim in an irretrievable form. Will Great Britain yield for the sake of maintaining unity with her allies? Or will the traditional ri- valry between Greal Britain and Russia assert itself and move Brit- ish diplomacy to an express denial of Russia's express claim? Upon the answer to that question, if the entente is victorious, will de- pend the peace of Europe after the battle-flags shall have been furled at the end of the present conflict. For Russia i- exigent, jealous, per- sistent and imperious despite de- feats, and she will not be denied the achievement of an historic triumph. —Marrh 29, L916. CRIPPLED FRANCE France is bard put to it to finance her Continued enormous purchases Of war supplies in this country. For the current fiscal year her indebted- ness to us will amount to $350,000,- 000 over the imports she sends us in payment. This $350,000,000 must be provided in some other- way. This is the present and pre ing problem of French finance. France can raise money to buy in France by floating domestic loans, or by -imply printing paper. No further unsecured loan can be sold by France and England here; and they dare not sell a secured loan and so ruin the value of their first 276 THE GKAVEST 366 DAYS unsecured issue of $500,000,000. That $500,000,000 is now exhausted. Great Britain will continue to pay us with proceeds of sales, in the New York market, of American se- curities which the British govern- ment has "mobilized" from British investors. France has no such fund of American securities to draw on. France has specialized on Russian securities, and there is no market for them here. The difficulty France is having in arranging for continued purchases abroad is equaled only by the des- perate need to continue such pur- chases. This is due to the economic victory which the German army achieved when it occupied and held the rich northwestern departments of France, which were both the in- dustrial center of the country and large producers of foodstuffs. It is the situation in which this country would find itself if an enemy could occupy New England and shut off its textile plants, and occupy Penn- sylvania and Ohio, with their coal, iron and steel industries. German appropriation of 80 per cent, of the French textile and steel production has forced France to go abroad to buy its steel, cotton and woolens, as well as its direct war needs. It is a valuable lesson for America to learn the exact extent of the burden which this occupation imposed upon France. If France and her allies did not hold the seas, and so hold access to oversea sup- plies, she would have been forced to her knees in three months. First, iron and steel. In 1913, the last peace year, France imported $6,000,000 of' iron and steel prod- ucts; in 1915, $71,000,000, so that the Oerman occupation caused France to spend $65,000,000 more for steel than in the peace year. Also, in 1913 France exported $59.0(Mi.(»(H) of iron and steel or their manufactures; in 1915, only $13,500,000, a decrease of $46,- 5(»0.0(io. Obviously, the real loss is this $46,500,000 plus $65,000,000. One hundred and eleven million dollars is the total annual cost to France of German occupation of her steel districts. Second, textiles. In 1913 France imported $28,000,000 of cotton and woolen textiles and yarn. In 1915 France had to import $-207. 000.000 of these commodities, an increase of $179,00t),000. Likewise in 1913 France exported $141,000,000 of these textiles and yarns; in 1915, only $33,000,000, ' a decrease of. $1 08, 000, 000. Obviously. German occupation of the French textile dis- tricts is costing France $108,000,- (Kio plus $179,000,000. or about $287,000,000 per year. One item more. The occupied area is also a sugar, meat and wheat producing section. What France could no longer produce she had to import. From 1913 to 1915 imports of wheat grew from $65,- 000,000 to $82,000,000, an increase of $17,000,000. Imports of wheat flour grew from nothing to $22,- 000,000. Imports of meat grew from nothing to $62,000,000. Im- ports of sugar grew from nothing to $24,000,000. The total increased bill of France for these foodstuffs amounted to $125,000,000. The cost to France of German occupation, in these three items of steel, textiles, foodstuffs — this cost in the year 1915 was at the rate of $523,000,000 annually. The first German blow put on France an an- nutal burden of over half a billion dollars a year. CONDITIONS IN ALLIED COUNTRIES 277 France has continued her very ex- istence only because the seas were not closed to her. But an opponent that can land on America's shores will he one that will hold the seas. Then what will be our fate when an invader occupies the industrial east- ern seaboard, including all our mu- nitions works? Where shall we then turn for salvation? We have ears and will not hear. We have eyes and will not see. — April 12, 1916. THE CRISIS IN IRELAND The seriousness of the situation in revolted Ireland is indicated by the comprehensive Bteps which the British government is taking to deal with it by force. Marital law is a measure of repression which British policy, never has resorted to, in recent years, at least, without extremely good reason. The decla- ration of martial law throughout Ireland, after its local application to Dublin, constitutes an admission of the gravity of the problem which the British government is facing. England may be expected to ex- ert all the available force that can be exerted to quell the uprising. She realizes that the continuance of the revolt will produce a bad im- pression abroad; more than that, when the news reaches the trenches "somewhere in France" or even as far east as Salonica, it cannot fail to exert an unfavorable effect upon the spirit of the soldiers. Irish or Eng- lish. Therefore, it may be confidently expected that Gen. Maxwell, the newly appointed commander of the forces of pacification in Ireland, will act with all the power at his dis- posal to suppress the uprising — within certain rigid limits. He will be greatly circumscribed by the ne- cessity of avoiding any action that may appear excessively drastic. Too great a rigor against Irishmen at home would inevitably find no echo in the hearts of Irishmen who are fighting England's battles at the front. Thus, by the political require- ments of the situation, Great Brit- ain is restrained from applying to their full extent the measures which may be imposed by the military ne- cessities. John Bull is evidently headed toward a much deeper cleav- age of sympathies and sentiment, at home ami in the trenches, than the official bulletins from London have indicated so far. — April 28, 1916. A TUNGSTEN MINISTER Tungsten not only hardens steel, but keeps it hard at high tempera- tures where steel would ordinarily "lose its temper." Firing cannon makes them hot, and those that are best tungstenized can stand the most, and the most frequent firing. At the beginning of the war most of the world's supply of tungsten was produced by England's colonies, although a considerable amount has been found in the United States. But England found herself without reducing plants for isolating the metal from its ore and, realizing the immense importance of tungsten in modern warfare, took immediate steps to protect the supply on hand and superintend all future produc- tion. A definite place was created in the war department for M r. T. R. Phillips, who was commissioned to .1 ft Q riiK ckaykst dm; days act practically as a sub-minister o( munitions, specializing in tung- sten. Be was to do nothing else besides acquainting himself thor- oughly with the world tungsten sit- uation and see that not an ounce of British tungsten should be wasted. Reduction plants were started im- mediately, under the direction and control oi the "tungsten minister," as Mr. Phillips might be called, and England escaped what mighl have been a national calamity. For such an apparently insignifi- cant factor as the possession and ability to utilize a ran 1 metal mighl easily spell the difference between victory and defeat in a modern war. England had been asleep to the vital importance of tungsten, contenl merely to produce it and let it he treated by private indi- viduals, and mostly by German chemists who had been perfecting the process ever sun e S< heele and Bergman first detected the metal in L781. Now she awoke with a shock, and took another leaf from the effi- ciency text-book oi Yon Bloltke, concentrating, specializing and put- ting an expert on the job elothed with unhindered power to command his own line of work. Can we, the United States of America, learn tins capital lesson in national preparedness without hav- ing to run so elose a chance as did England in the case of her tung- sten? Our conferences of mechan- ical and engineering experts, offer- ing their services to the government, are a hopeful sign indeed, hut what we vitally need is a stinging realiza- tion that the day of the expert has come, nationally as well as eoinmer- eially. and that if we are to keep up with the march of progress after the war we have simply pit to learn this lesson of concentration and spe- cialization which all Europe is being licked into Learning. Whether any jolt less jarring than war can teach us this remains to he seen. — May 5, 1916. THE GERMAN VICTORY IN ENGLAND Germany lias won. The German idea has triumphed. Whether a lier- nian military victory OCCUTS or not is a very small matter in com- parison. The German idea has finally defi- nitely won in England, the great toe to be overcome. British mud- dling, slackness, self-indulgence, in- efficiency are to go — confessedly to make way (or the German idea, for what the scholar calls German thor- oughness, what the scientist calls German efficiency, what the business leader calls indutsrial organization, what the politician calls the German state, what the military man calls the German army system, and what the ignorant eall Prussianism. si nee the war began the English aii - has rung with beseechings that England, in the aim o( creating sub- stitutes for the lacking raw ma- terials of warfare, should adopt the German spirit and practice of seien- tific rosea reh. It was finally done and the tungsten and dyestuffs problems were solved. Observing the terrific disparity between the shell supplies of Ger- man and British on the French front. Lloyd George realized that a (loser form of co-operation bewteen government ami industry was need- ed. He demanded a munitions ministry. He was made munitions minister, in absolute charge of the ( ONDITIONS IN ALI.IKb rOlWTRIES 279 British ahel] supply, and now in pri- vate and government factori 1,900,000 men working under him. It, I- ;i late imitation of the German state which guides, directs and co- operates with all German industry. And dow, at last, universal mili- tary en i" . conscription, the cen- tral tenel of "Prussianism" which quith I 'I he would resign before accepting. He said England would lose rather than become 'T aized." And now! Nor I- Britain ignorant of what i- imitating nor of the supreme worth of what she imital [n March, 1915, a writer in the British Technical Journal of Engineering said : The Industrial on of Germany, although it is much newer than that of England, baa been laid out on more tematic liri« and in iucb a way a.-; to render the country more nearly independ- ent of foreign aid. Under the difficult and strennoui conditiona of war are dem- trated thf men in the trenctu ially in the commissioned rank:-:, and possibly a majority in the scientific services who admire the Pi sian system. r J"ln-y have no patience with British muddle, British slummock, British hatred of order an'] intellect and learn- ing. Their on'; hop': of any good coming out of (he war for their countrymen in thai it will kno'.-k the m out of them and compel them to organize in the German fashion henceforth. Last Saturday Lloyd r > de- fending hi- demand for compulsory military service, in a speech before his constituents in North Wa confessed that : Time fa not our ally. It in a doubtful neutral, and it in not yet settled on whicb nid'; it will be, hut time can be won over by effort, determination, prep- aration and organization. No alliance ever worked more harmoniously than the central powers pooling their for'-'-. Let apply their method to our m<-anH and we shall win. Compulsion : imply means that the country in organizing it in an order! ' r< olute manner for war, whicb cannot be run sh raday school to ■ It, all means the triumph in the id of Prussianism, the Gorman idea, Gorman kultur, or wl you may choose to call it. Seduced to it- simplest terms, the triumph- ant. German princip me that is a part of i ntelligent being. It i- the spirit of co-operation, prog- , prosperity, success. I' i- mere- Jv the good old American doctrine that whatever is worth doing at all — including war — is worth 'Jo !. May 10, 1916. BRITISH ACHIEVEMENT The world does not yet realize the magnitude of the service rendered to Britain by her merchant marine in • ar. This merchant marine done four great things. Et provisioned a population of nearly 50,000,000, absolutely dependent upon foreign-grown food. The mer- chant marine has carried British ex- ports to pay for these foodstuffs and to keep British trade alive in - torn world. British ships have done nearly all the carrying of munitii between this country and the all Finally, the merchant fleet has per- formed unheard-of n a naval auxiliary. V. pe- tition- have been transported and maintained at the Dardanelles, Sal- onika and in Egypt. Many thou- sands of Rn have just been 380 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS being brought from Vladivostok to Mar- seilles. Ami, it must not be forgot- ten, the entire British expedition in France is an oversea expedition, its lines of communication formed by British ships. 'Idie British tonnage of steam ves- sels, according to Lloyd's, is over 19,000,000 tons. Recently Beresjord in the House of Lords complained of the small ship tonnage available for trade purposes, Curzon, for the government, explained that l.'i per cent, of the total British tonnage had been requisitioned for military and naval purposes. 1 1 per cent, was en- gaged in carrying foodstuffs and raw materials on behalf of Britain and her allies, while the remaining 43 per cent, was operating under li- censes from the admiralty. Even with the supremacy of the British navy. England and her allies would long since have failed but for the British merchant marine. It is vain to hold the seas if you have not the ships to use them. Vet the Brit- ish task is a growing one. Imports into England are being restricted to indispensable articles; others cannot have ship room, The population may yet be put on rations, like the Germans. Nor is the supply rapidly increasing; British shipyards are full of naval craft being built or re- paired. The mercantile output of the British shipyards up to date has made up within 11.000 tons the losses caused by German activities. The requistioning of nearly half the British merchant ships by the admiralty puts severe hardships up- on a country accustomed to employ nearly all that tonage on its com- mercial needs. Of the total of mer- chant ships 3,100 are employed on admiralty or military business. It is estimated that for every soldier landed at Salonica, four tons of ship- ping are lost to the uses of trade. There are over 300,000 soldiers in Salonica. Further use of ships to carry munitions means decreased ability to carry nitrates from Chili to the British fanners and decreased ability to tarry British coal for ex- port. Coal is now as good as gold in making payments abroad and in upholding the exchanges. Collieries in Wales are idle for days at a time for lack o( ships to take the coal away. There are manufacturers who must shut down because they cannot sei \o^o\> to bring them raw ma- terials. None but a merchant marine of 19,000,000 tons could meet the. enormous tasks which England is meeting, tasks whose complexity grows each day. The losses inflict- ed upon the British merchant ma- rine by U-boats up to date amount to only about 6 per cent. — June 2, L916. ' KITCHENER! No one will rejoice because Kitch- ener is dead. Peace and justice he brought to the fellahin of Egypt, se- curity and justice to the Soudan. From his youthful work in Palestine to the war ministry of a great na- tion, he had always been in the ser- vice of his country. He had always served the pur- poses of mercy and humanity. His work in the great war cannot yet be appraised. In less than two years under his ministry Great Britain raised an army of 5,000,000 volun- teers. Twenty-two months ago he was war minister of an unmilitary peo- ple. He died having achieved an in- credible transformation. CONDITIONS IN ALLIED COUNT I,' I ES 281 It can be said of him that his fame is unblemished. His integrity and courage arc absolutely unquestioned. His masterly achievements in many parts of the world, crowned by Ins extraordinary work of the last two years, are not dimmed by the slight- est breath o? detraction. He was a. knighl sans peur et sans reproche. For nearly three thousand years has the white race been supreme. Kitchener carried the rule of the white man, which we believe the highest form of civilization, to dis- tant parts. As leader in that capac- ity, he was the representative not merely of the British Umpire, hut of all the white men. It is the tragedy of this war that two kindred branches of the white- race should undermine each other's power. More than one Kitchener who might have carried the white man's civilization has already been lost. — June 6, 101G. WAR AS A MORAL FORCE Great moral movements under way in all the belligerent countries furnish a significant aspect of the war. The world is thoroughly familiar by this time with the spirit of sacri- fice which the German people, from the richest nobleman to the humblest workman, have developed under the pressure of unprecedented events. And this sacrifice, including the re- nunciation of foods which have been commonly considered essential to the maintenance of life and health, have been made with a cheerful unanimity which is nothing less than inspiring. In France the war has sobered a people who had been regarded as volatile, as easily discouraged under the blows of adversity, as incapable of sustaining for very long a strug- gle in which the eagles of victory did not soon perch upon their banne And the state of sobriety into which France has been broughl by a great national crisis applies to life in all its phases. The French have elim- inated forever the impression which existed throughout the world before the battle of the Maine, that they "are a people greatly devoted to the dance, with a fondness for light wine-,*' as the old school geography used to pui it. The French people to-day, as their foes ungrudgingly admit, furnish one of the most striking examples of heroic attachment to a great prin- ciple which history has recorded. Russia presents an astonishing il- lustration of the power of nations, as of individuals, to achieve a moral regeneration. At the beginning of the war the Russian moujik, op- pressed to exhaustion by a grinding system of maladministration, " sodden with vodka. Million- of them were seeking the solace of a peculiarly virulent form of alcoholic drink, and were achieving physical and economic self-destruction. With an unprecedented access of intelli- gence, the government shortly after the outbreak of the war strucfe vig- orously at the national vice. It not only went out of the business of rodka selling, but it flatly forbade the sale of vodka, throughout the em- pire. The results of this prohibition on a national scale are to be Been in a marked diminution of crimes — re- ported by one court as 62 per cent. — and by a notable increase in the working powers and the earning 282 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS capacity of the farmers and the laboring men. England, too, is responding to the call for a national mending of ways. The extravagant scale of living and the lack of thrift among the masses of the British people are so near an approach to the state of mind in the average American community to- ward these essential details of life that England's process of regenera- tion is of peculiar interest to Ameri- cans. As one of the means of raising money for the purposes of the war, the British government is issuing bonds of the denomination of 15 shillings and sixpence ($3.87), for the special benefit of working people. And the floating of these bonds has been made the occasion of a national campaign for the promotion of thrift which is affecting all classes of British society. Women of the working classes, enriched by highly paid employment in munition fac- tories, as well as women of the no- bility, are developing habits of thrift that are affecting the national char- acter. Fewer, and less elaborate clothes, simpler living, the elimina- tion of the use of the automobile for pleasure riding among the rich, and a marked reduction in the expendi- tures for entertainment among the working classes, are outward signs of the spiritual change for the better which the English people are under- going under the sobering and regen- erating influences of the time. Throughout the countries at war the same spirit of devotion has been evoked by the appeal of great cause-. It will be a new Europe that Ameri- can travelers will find across the Atlantic after the turmoil is over. — June 19, 1916. SIR ROGER CASEMENT Even those who radically dissent from Sir Roger's views of his duty will regret that he has been sen- tenced to death for his share in the ill-advised rebellion in Ireland. He was a distinguished subject of Great Britain. He has done good service to the empire and to civilization. His calm acceptance of his doom is the expression of his conviction that, in taking a leading part in the up- rising against the government which he had formerly served with distinc- tion, he was performing an act of patriotism. Changes were needed in Ireland. Sir Roger Casement's belief is part- ly justified by the pressing measures which the British cabinet is taking for the amelioration of Ireland's condition. This new home rule movement is a direct result of the revolt for which his life has been declared forfeit. — June 30, 1916. TOO LATE The Senate resolution appealing for clemency for Roger Casement was not delivered to the British authorities until after Casement had paid the death pen- alty, it was learned here to-day. The message was dispatched Wednes- day afternoon and arrived in London that night. But, apparently due to the fact that the British government offices were not open until morning, the mes- sage was not delivered until that time. — Neivs Dispatch. This is a matter for prompt in- vestigation. The question of inter- ceding in Casement's behalf had long been pending in the Senate. On Saturday, July 29, that body debated and decided the subject. They passed CONDITIONS IN ALLIED COUNTRIES 283 a resolution asking Great Britain to show clemency to Irish political pris- oners, and they requested the Presi- dent to transmit their resolution to the British government. Senator Stone, of the foreign relations com- mittee, brought the matter up on that day so that, if the Senate de- cided to intercede, there would be ample time to get their message to London. The resolution was passed July 29. It was not forwarded from Washington until the afternoon of August 2, when it was already night in London. It was delivered to the Foreign Office after Casement's death at 9.07 a. m., August 3. Mr. Hughes has offered to him another striking example of the workings of our State department. It is well that Mr. Lansing has come back from his vacation. — Aug. 7, 1916. WILL RUSSIA ABOLISH THE PALE? The conscience of the world has spoken the word of humanity to some of the members of the Eussian Duma in behalf of the Jews. Prof. Paul Miliukoff, the leader of the Constitutional Democrats in the Russian parliament, announces his intention to introduce in the Duma a bill abolishing one of the cruelist hardships ever imposed upon a race — the Pale. And this liberalizing act, Mr. Miliukoff admits, has been made politically possible by the ef- fect which public opinion through- out the civilized world, and espe- cially in America, has had upon the feeling of the Duma. Among the powerful advocates of equal treatment for the Jews in Russia are the late Count Witte, who visited America as Russian plenipotentiary at the peace confer- ence at Portsmouth, and Baron Rosen, who was Russian ambassador to the United States at the time of Count Witte's visit and served as Count Witte's colleague at the con- ference. During their stay in America both Count Witte and Baron Rosen had an excellent opportunity to observe the development of the Jewish race — many of them of Russian birth or antecedents. They also had an op- portunity to sense the profound dis- approval with which Americans re- gard the Pale, with all its horrors. They took back with them to Rus- sia a realization of the heinousness of the policy which their country had pursued toward the Jews within its borders. Baron Rosen's public de- mand for the granting of equal rights to the Jews was one of the first signs of the working of a lib- eral leaven in Russia in the first year of the war. Paul Miliukoff and Baron Rosen represent and personify young Rus- sia — the Russia which seriously strives to take its place among the modern nations, as Baron Rosen put it in his famous plea for the removal of the disabilities under which the Jews suffer. But the mass of the Russian people, like the preponderat- ing influences in the government, are against the reforms which Miliukoff is championing. It will be a diffi- cult feat to strike the shackles from the wrists of the Russian Jews, if the task can be accomplished at all, so long as the autocracy remains in the saddle, bolstered up by European democracies for their own political purposes. — Aug. 24, 1916. 284 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS THE TEARLESS WOMEN OF EUROPE But, as the train left, I looked at the host of women and girls who had come to bid farewell. I saw almost no tears, but there was a look of tender yearning, admiration, almost reverence, and. above all, of eager longing and mothering. The foregoing is an extract from a letter S. S. McClure sends from London. What courage, what nobility, and oh, what pathos there is in such a picture ! From the Baltic to the Mediter- ranean, from the Atlantic to the slopes of the Ural, the millions who are the mothers, the sisters, the daughters of Europe are sending their sons, their brothers, their lov- ers to die if need be, to be crippled perhaps, to shed their blood as blood never was shed before in all the world's history. Glorify not the Spartan women. The tearless women of Europe of to-day know all the bravery, all the fortitude and far more of sacrifice than those of ancient Sparta. — Sept. 11, 1916. CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS In the sneers that go up regard- ing the "conscientious objectors" to military service in Great Britain, it is likely to be forgotten that not all this class is composed of shirkers. The most, striking example of those whose hearts would not let them bear arms against their fellow men are the British Quakers. At the outbreak of the war the Quakers refused to enlist in the army and navy as fighters. It was not because they were themselves afraid to die. Far from it. They offered themselves for dangerous service on mine sweepers upon the seas and as Red Cross workers in the first trenches or in front of them. They would give their lives to save their fellow men, but not to destroy them. "Life may be given in many ways,'' and the Quakers have not preferred the worst one. — Sept. 16, 1916. Conditions in Central Powers VERBOTEN Germany is proverbially the land/ of verboten, forbidden. The word gets to look like the national motto to those who know just enough Ger- man to read signs and not enough of Germany to understand the insti- tutions behind the signs. It is verboten to spit in public places. It is verboten to play the piano in your flat after 10 at night. It is verboten to throw banana peels on the sidewalk or even on the street. Travelers in Germany laugh at these petty restrictions on per- sonal liberty until they return to live in a flat or walk on the streets in America. Then they balance the two kinds of personal liberty. The pernicious verboten spirit, does not stop here. It is verboten to employ mothers for six weeks after childbirth. It is verboten to put into a street car more than the car caD seat. Old age and invalidity insur- ance make it verboten for employers to use men up at forty and throw them in the scrap heap. To-day they are wrangling in England over how to halt the vast increase in drinking. In Germany it has been verboten for any brewery to produce over 40 per cent, of its normal peace output. England's starvation campaign is met by Ger- many's making it verboten for any man to eat more than so much bread per week ; there must be enough for all. Simple; and every man obeys, not because he is ignorant or servile but because he has learned to bend his individual will before the com- mon good. Freedom in the individual man is the measure of his control over his "natural" self. He is free only when he puts laws of restraint upon his passions, appetities,' lusts, subor- dinating them to his purpose, which is not enjoyment but attainment. If he does not master appetite, it mas- ters him, and he is not free but slave. The athlete is not free; he trains and sacrifices. But he reaches the larger freedom of at- tainment. So in social life. Freedom is the name for those self restraints which, by law, individuals contribute to the national purpose. These restraints, verboten, mean real freedom for all. The body politic, so trained and or- ganized, is a body athletic. It can run and not be weary. It can con- quer markets abroad. It can abol- ish all poverty, and half of disease, at home. The old order changeth, yielding to the new. We shall see verboten all exploitation of the weak, the de- sertion of aged workers, the myriad forms of abuse of financial trust, the waste of national resources. This will mean less freedom only for those who now exploit the free- dom of their fellow men. This is Germany's message to the world. This terrible war has forced the world to look for the secret of her marvelous power. We cannot 886 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS escape or evade the issue. Each man faces the choice o\' self-indulgence or self-restraint ami attainment. The nation faces this choice to-day. America will formulate its national purpose and subordinate to its at- tainment the selfish passions of in- dividual s^ain and of individual free- dom which means merely domina- tion over those who are not likewise dominating us. — Feb. 8. 1916. THE IMPLACABLE BLOCKADE Lord Northcliffe, comfortably be- hind the tiring line on the west front, cables us: In view of the fact that the German stomach is beginning to cry famine as a result of the implacable blockade of the allies, 1 am awaiting violent explosions of German anguish on laud and also on sea during the next six mouths. Lord Northcliffe knows perfectly well the quarter from which Ger- man explosions of anguish will come during the next six months. He knows the fact which Judge Lindsey has just told the people of America : that the only shortage in Germany is a shortage of milk. The only persons affected thereby are those whose German stomachs are too young to do without milk. Lindsey tells us that half the civil- ian deaths in Germany last year were young children or infants, many of them carried off by the milk shortage. What effect will this have on the outcome of the war? The effect can be precisely measured. Of the children now starved by the block- ade, probably one-half are boys. Eighteen years from now the Ger- man army will have fewer candi- dates because of British elimina- tion o( the infants of to-day. As for the effect of the hlockade upon the efficiency o( the German army. Lord Northcliffe need only look about him at Verdun to be dis- illusioned. If he stays there long enough he will be able to send us reports, in his own thrilling Eng- lish, of the way men can fight when their babies at home are dying of a milk famine. — March 9, 1916.* PRUSSIANISM These days furnish a splendid commentary upon the widespread theory, that the German govern- ment, an embodiment o( Prussian- ism, is quite a different thing from the kindly, gentle German people, the people of Goethe and Schiller. The clear fact is that ruthless Prus- sianism, embodied in the imperial government is doing its best to make the kindly, peace-loving Ger- man people allow it to modify its submarine warfare to meet the views of the United States. Every impartial observer writes from Germany that the obstacle to the attainment of a complete under- standing between the United States and the ruthless German empire is the stubborn insistence of the Ger- man people and their responsible representatives in Parliament that the submarine campaign shall not be abandoned, but rather sharpened. The disciples of Goethe and Schiller — that sterling band of peace-abid- ing persons whom the allies would not destroy for all the world, though their medieval government must go — these German burghers want the submarines to sink every ship ply- ing to or from England, no matter CONDITIONS IN CENTRAL POWERS 287 what the flag and no matter who is on board. The bloodthirsty government has to exert all its power to prevent the united political parties in the Reichstag from flaming forth into a demand that the submarines be un- leashed. The German pepole have for over a year felt the pinch of strict self-denial, by which alone famine was avoided. Every text- book on international law, English or other, and every American note to England — all these tell the Ger- mans that the British ''blockade/' by which starvation is aimed at the German civilian population, is ille- gal, indefensible and not a blockade at all. So these kindly Teutons want the same starvation aimed at the people of England, even if the only available German reprisal — submarine torpedoing of merchant- men — is also illegal. It is interesting to see "Prus- sianism" obliged to champion the rights of neutrals on the high -> against the simple-minded German people. Does not the situation show the need of examining the san- ity of some current opinions as to Germany? Moreover, the acknowl- edged extremity of the German government in pursuing a modified submarine policy contrary to the will of the German people ought to open all eyes to the fact that in Germany, just as in America, government in the last analysis is responsible to those it governs and subordinate to them. — April 26, 1916. that a meat diet is inferior to a vegetable diet for the production of the best brawn and the best brain. Individuals have practiced the preachings of the vegetarians with success, but never has a nation tested the soundness of the theory of life without meat. Such an ex- periment is foreshadowed by the announcement by Kerr Adolpb von Batocki, the newly appointed Ger- man food dictator, that for the next eight week- civilian Germany will have to get along without meat. The German people doubtless will accept the latest food restriction without loud complaint, as they have accepted previous restrictions im- posed for the common good. At the end of the period of national ab- stention from meat, German scien- tists will be in possession of valu- able data on which to base scien- tific conclusions as to the wisdom or the unwisdom of the vegetarian theory. Thus, out of the distress of war, results of the greatest benefit to the race may be achieved. — June 6, 1916. A MEATLESS GERMANY For many years a school of dieticians have been maintaining THE "BLOCKADE" AND THE GERMANS Nobody objects to the illegal Brit- ish "blockade" because it is starving the Germans. Nobody knows wheth- er it is or not; that depends on the outcome of the present harvest. Our government and our people protest against this "blocade" and propose to abolish it because it is a lawless interference with the course of in- ternational trade. . 2S8 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS As for the Germans, the "block- ade" is proving a boon to them. It is compelling them to make inven- tions utilizing native resources in- stead of imported. This is a gain for Germany, a loss for all those who sold to her, including the United States. The scarcity of cer- tain raw materials has forced Ger- many to find new ways of making a given quantity of raw material turn out a larger manufactured product. This is industrial efficiency. The "blockade" has infinitely simplified the tun-man financial problem, in that it has prevented them from buying abroad. They owe only themselves and are dependent for future credit on home patriotism, which lasts longer than the critical approval oi foreign financiers. Above all else, the '"'blockade" has forced the whole German na- tion, its labor, to accept the scale of living forty-live years ago. Meat, butter, sugar, delicacies of every sort, new clothing, are all luxuries foregone completely or wholly. The physical effect is good, so far as we can judge. The effect of two years of this self-denial will mean a vasi increase in the competitive powers of German industry, possessed o( a nation of Laborers, trained to the simple life. The saving power of that nation will he a new thing in history. Who has not said to himself. "If I could earn as 1 do to-day and live as my grandfather lived, I could get to be a rich man." A whole nation is go- ing to find itself in precisely this position. Perhaps the "blockade* 5 is putting the Germans in the posi- tion of being able to carry the whole heavy burden of the war debt, and feel "it little.— June 8. 1916. THE PRESENT SITUATION IN GERMANY By S. S. McClurk. When I left Germany on April 26 the situation was this: Food was meager hut sufficient, the only anx- iety being the coming harvest, which no one could forecast. The supply of milk was about 60 per cent, of normal. There was over 95 per cent, the usual number of milch cows, but on account of a par- tial failure in fodder crops, and in- ability to import cattle foods, the supply of milk had decreased about 10 per cent, The health of the Ger- man people was generally above normal, including the men at the front. The most significant fact was the decrease of infant mor- tality, which both in Belgium and Germany was lower than ever be- fore in the history of the country. This was the situation the latter part of April. The latest definite news as to food and health in Ger- many is from 11 err mui Batocki, the food minister of the German em- pire, and the highest food authori- ty, who said on June 25, just two months after T left Germany: "There could be no talk of under- nourishment among the people. In- vestigations, especially in the in- dustrial regions, found the women and children looking healthy." There were reports o\' food riots — always outside of Germany. I could find no traces of food riots. I found the German people abso- lutely confident of victory. The latest information regarding the general situation in Germany is to hi' found in the London Time* of dune 22. T give herewith some quotations from the Times article, which will show that there was no CONDITIONS IN CENTRAL POWERS 289 change in the situation in Germany between April 26, when I left, and the latter part of June, when the following article was written: "An interesting description of present conditions in Germany and of the state of mind of the German people is given by one who left the enemy country a few days ago after a stay which began before the war. "Since the days of mobilization in the summer of 1914, when a na- tion's manhood hastened cheerfully and with enthusiasm to the colors, there have been changes of temper and a gradual increase of incon- venience and actual hardship, but pride in German achievements and confidence in ultimate victory would appear to be still unshaken. "There was more grumbling about food in February than is heard to-day. It was in that month that the pressure really began to be felt and the complaints were loud and general. "A good deal is being written about food riots in Germany, but I never saw any rioting, and I think I can explain the circumstances which may have given rise to the stories. The distribution of articles like meat, flour, sugar and butter is regulated by the town councils or district boards. On a certain day a limited quantity of butter or sugar may be released for sale by a shopkeeper. "The news is quickly known, and from every house, women, children and servants hurry out with their tickets to get a share of the supply. There is seldom enough to go round, and when the stock is exhausted a crowd is left clamoring outside the shop. Disappointment leads to angry- words and there is a free airing of opinions before the people disperse, but to call these episodes rioting is an exaggeration. "Save that among most people the sinking of the Lusitania is now re- garded as a mistake, there is noth- ing but approval of the German sub- marine warfare. The feeling is that, as England is cutting off food supplies, the government is right to take any measure it thinks fitting. The blockade is looked upon as brutal and uncivilized. In the eyes of the people the crews of the U- boats are heroes, whose bravery is held up as an example to the youth of the country. Resentment against England is as strong as ever. The death of Lord Kitchener caused much excite- ment and satisfaction. At the house where I was staying the postman called in the morning bursting with the news. "We have got an Eng- lander this time," he exclaimed, and unbuttoned and buttoned his coat with a fine swagger. Every German believes that the Hampshire was sunk by a German submarine. "For the moment German confi- dence in the* government and in the army and navy is, I believe, unshak- able." — From the London Times of June 22. Take it all in all, the state of mind of the German people and the situation as to food and health is the same as I have already de- scribed. Absolute assurance of ultimate victory is felt equally by the people of Germany and England. — July 7, 1916. GERMAN FOOD RESTRIC- TIONS One of the best pieces of news which the week has brought across 290 THE GBAY13ST 366 DAYS the water 'is confirmation of the fact thai babies in Germany are not starving for lack of milk. There is no one who will not rejoice at this assurance, even those who are such ardent advocates of a "blockade" whose sole pressure is on the civilian population of Germany; that is, the women and children. Along with relief over this particular phase of l lie situation, most of us will not restrain our admiration for the manner in which the result was achieved. We read, in a report from the American embassy at Berlin: It seems clear that through scientific management) conservation of the milk supply, oven under the present condi- tions of restriction iu production, pre- vention of waste, aud restrictions, or, in some instances, abolition of the use of milk as a beverage for adults, aud iu the preparation of food for adults, the Ger- man authorities have succeeded in secur- ing sufficient milk to cover the needs of nursing mothers, infants, children up to the age of puberty and the sick of all ages. When this war broke, Germany was importing 7,500,000 tons more of fodder than she exported. It im- mediately became impossible to con- tinue this importation, and herein lies the key to all Germany's food difficulties: meat, animal fats, milk. Home supplies of fodder were in- creased hv an invention that turned an unexportable surplus of sugar into cattle feed, by a larger use of potatoes in feeding swine and by a heavy reduction in the number of swine, through slaughtering and preserving, until a larger new po- tato crop could be grown. With the head of swine reduced, the meat demand turned to cattle. The need of conserving them for milk supply forced the use of meat cards, and recently more severe re- strictions, almost abolishing the use of meat among civilians until au- tumn. Mo one is dying for lack of meat, people <\o not die of hunger in a land with Germany's social power of organization and individ- ual power of self-sacrifice. Until the present young eat tie grow up and the out-turn o( the present har- \est is ascertained, healthy adults in most parts of Germany can have no milk. Think what it would mean if the richest man on Fifth avenue could buy no milk so long as the east side had a single nursing mother, a single child, a single sick person, who was un sup plied. Once Alexander the Great and his army were near the end of a long march through the Syrian desert. They were famished with thirst. A single tiny pool of water was found. It yielded one shield-full of water, ami this water the soldiers brought to Alexander and his generals to drink. But Alexander took the shield in his hands and poured the water out upon the ground. He would not drink what his soldiers could not share. For the present emergency, dif- ferences in wealth in Germany are largely eliminated: for differences in wealth mean differences in ability to purchase and enjoy. Some call the process an unexampled extension of socialism, enfeebling those whom it aids. Some call it the world's grandest example of all the citizens of a nation being welded into one by common sacrifice for a common cause. — July 15, 1916. CONDITIONS IN CENTRAL POWERS 391 GERMANY'S EFFICIENCY AS J. J. HILL SAW IT This country has produced no keener mind than James J. Hill. It is instructive to recall, Ids descrip- tion in 1900 of Herman industrial efficiency and the manner in which, Great Britain fell that corn petition. It is instructive to note Ins appreci- ation of the national social value of the agriculture which Germany in- sisted on maintaining and develop- ing, while Great lirilain abandoned hers and became dependent on over- seas sources of supply. This vjar is demonstrating new phases of Ger- many's wisdom in protecting her agriculture. She gains her reward in her immunity from, starvation and in the value to her of the large agri- cultural contingents in her army. In 1900, before the Agricultural Society of .Minnesota, Mr. Hill said: There are no more instructive studies in national efficiency than this. The German Empire has nearly 00,000,000 people compressed within a little more than 200,000 square miles of territory. She has not tied her fortunes to a single interest. Her manufacturing industries are thrusting themselves into the mar- kets of every country. How to meet uerman competition is today the study of every intelligent leader of industry and every cabinet on the continent of Europe. It will be found that a large share of her world-wide success is due to symmetrical national development. Agricultural industry has not been Blighted. Behold a contrast that throws light upon the idle hosts of England's unem- ployed marching despondently through the streets, whose shop windows are crowded with articles of German make. Between 1875 ana 1900 in Great Britain 2,o.)l,428 acres, which were under cereals, and 755,255 acres, which were under green crops, went out of cultiva- tion. In Germany during the same period the area under cultivation grew from 22,840,050 to 23,971,573 hectares, an in- crease of 5 per cent., and the area given over to grass shrank one-third. While her foreign trade wbm making the great leap from $1,800,000,000 to $2,650,000,000. the yield of her cultivated fields per hec- tare made the following advances, meas- ured in kilograms: Wheal from 1.070 to 1.970; rye, from 1,490 to 1,660; barley, from 1,180 to 1,950; oats, from 1,070 to 1,810, and hay, from 2,230 to 4,450. The wages of the agricultural laborers i about. 2." per cent, between 1873 and 1801', and have advanced another 25 per cent, since tnen. This is the work of intelligence, of a complete appreciation of the national problem as a whole, of universally prac- tical and technical education and of in- finite patience. To agriculture as to other occupations will apply the conclu- sion reached by I'rof. Dewar after a study ot German industry and progress as a whole : "The really appalling tiling is not that the Germans have seized upon a dozen industries, but that the German popula- tion has reached a point of general training and specialized equipment and possesses a weapon of precision which gives her an enormous initial advan- tage." . . . In the west of England, which was a great center of broadcloth manufacturing and of the weaving of other woolen goods, the output is less than a quarter of what it was twenty-five years ago. Germany is taking the cutlery trade of Sheffield. The German people, who have cared jealously for their farming industry at the same time when they were learning economy and efficiency in all other forms of production today lead the world, or any period in its history, in scientific in- dustrial intelligence and systematic man- agement. — Aug. 9, 1910. ROOTED IN THE SOIL James J. Hill's words on this page :-liould serve to recall to this country the supreme value of our agriculture, compared with which all other forms of activity are of minor importance. On the solid basis of agricultural 292 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS production this nation is built. To increase thai production is a duty that transcends the call for indus- trial development and the increase of foreign trade. Over one hundred and fifty years ago Dr. Samuel Johnson, that hu- man compendium of observation and thought, warned Great Britain of the dangers that menaced her from the threatened over-specializa- tion in manufacturing, at the ex- pense of farming. He said: Of nations, as of individuals, the first Messing is independence. Neither the man nor the people can be happy to whom any human power can deny the necessaries or conveniences of life. There is no way of living without the need of foreign assistance but by the product of our own land, improved by our own labor. Every other source of plenty is perishable or casual. Agriculture alone can support us with- out the help of others in certain plenty and genuine dignity. Whatever we may buy from without the sellers may re- fuse ; whatever we sell, manufactured by art, the purchasers may reject ; but while our own ground is covered with corn and cattle, we can want nothing; and if imagination should grow sick of native plenty and call for delicacies and em- bellishments from other countries, there is nothing which corn and cattle will not purchase. i 1 Dr. Johnson's words are as true to-day as they were when they were written. They point the way for this country. The agricultural credit hill is only the first of the measures which will help us in the direction we should travel. We still need good roads, education in agricul- tural and household economics, re- clamation of waste lands. The na- tion has nothing to fear whose roots are deep in the soil. It has every- thing to fear when those roots begin to loosen. — Aug. 9, 1916. SAVE THE CHERRY STONES! Every one who has felt the scarc- ity of fats and oil in a disagreeable way on his own body, as we all have, will not permit the pits of fruits to be wasted. Ten cherry stones yield enough fat for soap to wash one's hands and face; one hundred cherry stones enough oil for a goodly portion of salad. The Red Cross and schools are gather- ing well-washed and dried pits of peaches, apricots, plums and prunes. The actual cash value of this na- tion-wide collection is turned over to charitable purposes. Therefore, collect your fruit stones. Allow nothing to be wasted. The above communication of the German war nutrition department to the public tells a whole story without further comment. — Aug. 24, 1916. THE GERMAN SCIENTIFIC SPIRIT No matter what the outcome of this war, it will serve to center the attention of the world upon the marvelous attainments of the Ger- mans in industrial science. The achievements of the German army and navy have their lessons for us, to be sure. But the vital lesson that Germany has to teach is that of the industrial efficiency, and the one most important for us to learn. We can and probably shall avoid a military conflict with Germany. It is wholly impossible to avoid an in- dustrial conflict upon the markets of the world. The German scientific spirit and method were wonderfully illustrated by Senator Smoot last week, in a debate on the dyestuff tariff: CONDITIONS IN CENTRAL POWERS 293 I used to buy a groat many coal tar dyes from Germany. T went to Ger- many to meet the people with whom I had done so much business. When going through the largest plant in the world, I was shown into the chemists depart- ment. Among the hundreds of chemisls that were working at that great plant I was shown into a room where I was told that the chemists there had been experi- menting for nearly twenty years to pro- duce a dyestuff thai would take the place of indigo blue. Our government used to specify indigo blue for soldiers uniforms ; every government on earth used to do the same. Those enterprising German manufacturers undertook to find some- thing that would answer the purpose of indigo blue, and yet which would cost less money. While there I talked with a chemist, and I asked him if he had yet discovered an article that would take the place of indigo blue. He said, "Not yet," but I was told that those chemists were put into that room with but one instruction, and that was never to give up their in- vestigation unil such an article was dis- covered. No matter how much money it might cost, and no matter how long it might take, they were instructed to find something that would take the place of indigo blue. W T hat would have been the result if a manufacturer in the United States had thirty years ago undertaken to discover an article that would have taken the place of indigo blue? Why, Mr. Presi- dent, perhaps he would work at it for six months, and if he had been a very patient American he might have worked at it for a year, but at the end of the year he would have said, "Oh, life is too short ; I shall not bother further with anything like this." And yet, we must "bother" in just this way. When the conflict is over, Germany will again set the industrial pace for the world, and it will be a pace still more rapid than before, quickened by the moral strength which comes to the people during the war. — Sept. 15, 1916. TEAM PLAY From Germany conies the an- nouncement that Arthur von (J win- ner has gone on the directorate of the Hamburg-American and the North German Lloyd. Through him the shipping com- panies of Germany are to be linked up more closely with the agricul- tural and industrial interests of the nation, to work with a better under- standing when the war ends and to plan with an appreciation of what is of greatest benefit to all. He goes on the directorates not so much as the representative of the Deutsche Bank, of which he is so high a figure, as the representative of the German people. It would he well if something of this sprit was in evidence in Amer- ica. Who is there in Wall street fitted to represent the agriculturists of America, or who has even a slight measure of the confidence of the men of the soil? Who is there in Wall street who has the confidence of the heads of the national government? From Lombard street to Downing street the distance is short in reality and in feeling, and it's only a stone's throw from the Reichsbank to Pots- dam. But the distance from Wall street to Washington! It is time this chasm of suspicion, opposition and hate were bridged. This nation needs the spirit of nationalism nowhere more than in Wall street and Washington. — Sept. 18, 1916. Conditions in Neutral Countries THE TRAGIC FATE OF SMALL NATIONS History of recent date is repeat- ing itself with startling accuracy in the attitude of great nations toward their smaller brothers. When Germany thought it neces- sary, in the opening phase of the struggle, to step over Belgium into Frame, she offered to the Belgians three alternatives — the granting of free passage through Belgian soil for the German armies on their way to northern France; the par- ticipation of Belgium in the war as an ally o\' Germany, or a. declara- tion oi' Belgium's adherence to the cause of the triple entente. Confronted with a choice, Bel- gium made the heroic decision to fight io the end for the maintenance ol' her individuality as a nation. In the present phase of the struggle it is the entente that has offered a choice of the. same three alternatives to the small nations of the Balkan peninsula. Bulgaria, facing a request which was officially defined at Paris as partaking of the character v( an ultimatum, to de- clare her adherence, replied to the vigorous representations o\' the en- tente by taking the field on the side of the central empires. Roumania is still waiting, and the allies of the entente are still press- ing her for a decision on one of the three lines of conduct. In the meantime, on the Roumanian fron- tier a Russian army is waiting to * cross into Bulgaria. Greece, also playing for time, is feeling the increasing pressure of Great Britain, Prance and Russia tor an active participation in the operations, in spite of the privilege which she has already granted to the entente for the free passage of their troops through Greek soil — a privilege which Belgium denied to Germany. Dependent upon overseas sources for many of her supplies, Greece, like Sweden, is Buffering in her daily life from the power of the countries that control the seas. Her only way out of the embarrassment may he through an acceptance of the allies' demand for the active aid of her armies as well as the right of way which the allies have already acquired. — Oct. 22, 1915. SMALL NATIONS IN THE GREAT WAR The policy of reprisal declared by Sweden against Great Britain as a result i^\' continued seizures of mail hound for Sweden brings to light the resentments which have been bred in small countries by the acts o( belligerent nations in violation of international law. Not content with the seizure of British mail as a means of giving expression to its determination not to brook further interference with CONDITIONS IN NEUTRAL COUNTI.'IKS 205 its communications with the outside world, the Swedish government has issued a decree prohibiting Hie ex- portation of chemical wood pulp, and by so doing lias cut England off from ils main source of paper sii|> ply. The effectiveness of this pro- test by >\rot\ instead of by words is indicated by the following comment on the situation by the Wcs/nnn- gter Gazette: This act of the Swedes is u reminder to those who, have been urging a com plete blockade of neutrals that these have a power of retaliation which may he even more inconvenient to us than tlie loss of our supplies. The paper diffi- culty can probably be adjusted, but only by concessions on our own side. Inter- ference witli neutral trade may not prove quite such smooth sailing as some per- sons fondly imagine. In bis recent speech from the throne KingOuslaf plainly conveyed the threat that a eont iniiance of the British policy of irritation would re- sult in an abandonment of neutral- ity by Sweden. And in such an event Sweden would naturally align herself with the central powers — ■ for the dominant factor in the mind of Sweden is the fear of b'ussia. That fear has been the basis of the international policy of Sweden for many years, and it found expression on the eve of the great war in a material augmentation of the mili- tary resources of (lie country. And yet, with every opportunity of sounding the underlying senti- ment of the Swedish people, and their tendency to regard at least the Russian partner of the Quadruple Entente with suspicion, British statesmen are pursuing toward Sweden the policy which has turned the sentiment of Greece, normally strongly pro-ally, into active oppo- sition to the allies. They are driv- ing Sweden into the arms of Ger- many. — Tan. 22, 1916. RUSSIA AND SWEDEN The value which b'ussia places upon a possible intervention of Sweden in the war on the side of the central powers is indicated by the public effort which is being made by the Russian government to allay fears of Russian designs upon the most powerful of the Scandinavian countries. Sergius Sa/onolf, mm LSter of foreign all'airs at I'eliograd, has this to say to Sweden in an in- terview given to a deputation of newspaper men: It is evident that in Sweden, as else- where, there 1ms been a chauvinist ie movement. II is possible that Sweden may feel the need of taking measures for the defense of her frontiers, but we cm declare categorically that she will not have to defend them against Russia and that this side of her frontiers is perfeol ly secure. M. Sazonolf's declaration, how- ever, is hardly likely to affect pub- lic opinion in Sweden, which for the past three years has worked along the line of preparedness for defense against- a Russian attack. Back of that strong sentiment is a long na- tional memory of spoliation by Rus- sia, which culminated at the end of the Napoleonic period, when b'us- sia- occupied the Swedish province of Finland. That is a historic rea- son for Sweden's suspicions of Rus- sia. There is also a racial reason why Sweden, if it should decide to eider the war, would enter it on the side of Germany. The Swedes are a Germanic race; their traditions are Germanic; the earliest appreciation Of their achievements in art and let- ters came from (Jermany. The ma- jority of the Swedish people un- 296 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS doubted ly look to Germany for the realization of their own political and racial ideals. M. Sazonoff's assurances come several centuries too late to accom- plish the results of changing his- toric hate and suspicion into love and confidence. — Feb. 1, 1916. THE FATE OF PERSIA One of the results of the war will be the elimination of Persia as an independent state. If the quad- ruple entente dominates the deliber- ations of the peace congress that will follow the conclusion of the war, it may be assumed, as a matter of course, that Russia and Great Britain will carry out the provisions of the Russo-British treaty which was negotiated before the opening of the present struggle. Under the terms of this agreement Great Brit- ain recognized Russia's pretensions to exclusive political and commer- cial privileges in the northern part of the remnant of the empire which Xerxes raised to the pinnacle of power. At the same time Russia recognized England's pretensions to economic and political domination in the southern part of Persia — the part that lies nearest to India and to the Persian gulf. On the other hand, if the central powers carry the day on the battle- field and enter the congress with the mandate of victors, it may be accepted as an axiom of common sense in statesmanship that they will define the exact status of Per- sia in the new order of things. That status will be decided, no doubt, in favor of Turkey. Turkey, as a Mohammedan state, separated from Persia only by a frontier and by minor differences in the interpreta- tion of the Islamic faith, has ad- vanced a claim to the right to ex- ert a preponderating influence upon Persian affairs, external and inter- nal. It is highly probable, if not abso- lutely certain, that the central pow- ers, in the event of their ultimate success in the struggle, will support Turkey's contentions in regard to Persia, and that that country will become, in effect if not in name, an Ottoman province. Whoever wins, the termination of the semblance of an independent Persia will be one of the results of the crime of Sarajevo — a far cry, perhaps, but by no means the most inconceivable detail in the vast world changes that will follow in the wake of the pending world- nightmare. — Feb. 14, 1916. SWEDEN, CHAMPION OF LAW There is something that appeals powerfully to the imagination as well as the conscience of mankind in the gallant stand which Sweden has taken against British invasion of the sanctity of neutral mails. Sweden has a population of only 5,700,000, as against the 46,000,000 of the United Kingdom; a navy that could be shattered by a single Brit- ish cruiser squadron; an army of 80,000 now under arms, as against Britain's host of 5,000,000 men in the field or in training camps. And yet Sweden has taken up the challenge to the rights of nations which Great Britain has cast into the world's arena by her assump- tion of the right to seize, censor and destroy not only parcels post pack- ages on neutral ships, bound from neutral countries to other neutral countries under the protection of CONDITIONS IN NEUTEAL COUNTRIES 297 the flags of neutral sovereign states, but also first-class mail belonging to such countries and conveying legiti- mate trade secrets and personal mat- ters having nothing to do with the war or its operations. For months past the Swedish gov- ernment has offered to the United States its co-operation in an attempt to enforce respect for the violated rights of neutrals. Once more, in a formal note to Washington, Minis- ter Ekengron has presented the is- sue to the Slate department, and has urged joint action. These repre- sentations are based upon Sweden's realization of "the danger for the future if these rules (of nations), which are of infinite worth to civil- ization as a whole, are not pre- served." Sweden accuses Great Britain of a direct and unpardonable violation of the law of nations, as codified in The Hague convention. On this head the Swedish note to Secretary Lansing says, after referring to the seizure of parcel post packages, which are not under the express pro- tection of that international instru- ment : However, England's present: practice of censoring also first-class mail sent by neutral vessels from one neutral country to another is an even greater violation of the rights accorded neutral powers by the rules of international law. It is not necessary particularly to point out how contrary this practice is to the stipula- tions in the above-mentioned Hague con- vention, which stipulations or rules must be considered to have been in existence even before the promulgation of this convention. Failing to obtain the co-operation of the United States in this grave crisis — grave not only for Sweden but for civilization — the Swedish government will not give up the struggle to reinstate the shattered law of nations. It is demonstrating to Great Britain that it can and will stand up for its own rights and for the rights of the neutral world. — Feb. 1!), 1916. ROUMANIAN CONTRACT The signing of a commercial treaty between ;i neutral power and a belligerent in time of war is not an event of purely commercial sig- nificance. No neutral nation would care to bind itself by commercial ties to a nation which faces defeat. The results of such an agreement would be too disastrous for the neu- tral signatory, which would be ex- posed to retaliatory steps by the vic- torious belligerent after the war, if not during its course. By signing the new commercial treaty with Germany, in spite of the active opposition of the entente powers, Roumania has plainly inti- mated to the world its belief that Germany, if it is not victorious, cer- tainly will not be defeated. Apart from its political signifi- cance, however, the agreement be- tween Germany and Roumania is of immediate commercial interest to America, and especially to the Amer- ican farmer and the American banker. Germany in normal times buys enormous quantities of rye from Russia. By the amount of rye which Germany will now purchase from Roumania under the new agreement, Russia will lose a mar- ket in the future — for Great Brit- ain, France and Belgium, the three other grain-buying countries of Eu- rope, do not use rye in any consider- able quantity. Roumania in normal times ex- ports grain valued at between $100,- 000,000 and $125,000,000. Most of 298 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS this surplus has been going to the western, as distinguished from the central, powers. If a way had been kept for the exportation of Ameri- can wheat to Germany, the Amer- ican farmer would have enlarged and developed a profitable market in Germany. This way was not opened, and Roumania now has ac- quired the German market by the commercial treaty. Thus the American manufacturer who has been selling to Russia, and the American banker who has been financing Russian purchases here are confronted with the prospect of a diminution of Russia's paying power because of the loss of her only market for her second most important product — rye. At the same time the American farmer loses a market for his wheat — for it is very unlikely that the Roumanian- German agreement is not designed to govern the relations of the two countries for many years. — April 14, 1916. SWEDEN'S NEUTRALITY The dangerous stress at one point upon the heaving surface of neutral Europe has been relieved somewhat by the resources of entente diplo- macy. Confronted for the past year with the possibility of an open clash between Sweden and Russia, which might have involved the entire Scandinavian league, Christiania and Copenhagen are breathing easier because of the recent announcement by the Swedish premier that the re- lations between Sweden and the al- lies of the entente, and especially Russia, have been improved by as- surances of pacific purpose received at Stockholm. But the popular agitation against Russia is continuing in Sweden with a degree of intensity which is re- garded in Norway as a menace of fresh complications. There is a gen- eral feeling of resentment among the Swedish people against two phases of entente policy. One is the interference of Great Britain with Swedish commerce, and the other is Russia's military operations on the mainland of Finland and on the Aland Islands. Of these two causes of concern at Stockholm the Rus- sian operations are by far the greater irritant. Swedish advocates of prepared- ness, among whom King Gustave is the chief, point out that the concen- tration of Russian troops along the Finnish border cannot be regarded as a pacific measure, especially when it is taken in conjunction with the reconstruction of Russian railways in Finland to correspond with those of Sweden in gauge. But the great- est grievance which the Swedes cite against Russia is the fortification of the Aland Islands. This archipelago, once a possession of Sweden, is only within a hundred miles steaming distance of Stockholm. The Swedish advocates of preparedness point out that a fortification of the Alands can be aimed at Sweden alone, and on the strength of that conviction they have increased the military re- sources of their country to an extent which is not publicly avowed. British diplomacy, itself con- fronted with a difficult task because of Stockholm's protests against Brit- ish interference with Swedish trade rights, has exerted itself in an en- ergetic endeavor to smooth out the relations between the Russian ally and the Swedish neighbor. This en- deavor evidently has met with some CONDITIONS IN NEUTRAL COUNTRIES 299 success. The friction has been re- duced for the time being, but the anti-Russian party in Stockholm re- mains firmly convinced that the issue lias been deferred and not eliminated. — May 22, 1916. SWEDEN'S STAND Sweden has at iasf rebelled agairisi the action of Great Britain in tak- ing control of all trade between this country and the neutrals of Europe. England has been refusing to let American goods go to Sweden unless consignees would guarantee that they would not be re-exported. The purpose was to prevent any transit trade to the central powers. Sweden has passed a law forbidding any of her citizens from making any' such contract with the British govern- ment, on the ground that it is an in- fringement of Swedisli sovereignty and an insufferable interference with Sweden's right to trade, under international law. The new Swedish law revives and vitalizes the question of British interference with com- merce of neutrals. The crux of the whole problem is the right of Britain to stop non- contraband goods from moving to Germany. We denied any such right in our note to the British govern- ment of March 30, 1915: It is confidently assumed that his maj- esty's government will not deny that it is a rule sanctioned by general practice that even though a blockade should ex- ist and the doctrine of contraband as to unblockaded territory be rigidly enforced, innocent (non-contraband) shipments may be freely transported to and from the United States through neutral coun- tries to belligerent territory without be- ing subject to the penalties of contra- band traffic or breach of blockade, much less to detention, requisition or confisca- tion. And no claim on the part of Great Britain of any justification for interfer- ing with these clear rights of the United States and its citizens as neutrals could be admitted. To admit it would be to assume an attitude of unneutrality to- ward the present enemies of Great Brit- ain which would be obviously inconsist- ent with the solemn obligations of this government in the present circumstances. This is precisely the ground upon which Sweden stands. Like us, she claims that Britain has no right to stop innocent (non-contraband) goods moving from America through Sweden to Germany. Like us, Swe- den says that she would violate her neutrality if she acceded to any such action on Britain's part. Therefore she forbids her citizens to join the British admiralty in a lawless com- bination in restraint of international trade. Has the United States similarly prevented its citizens from joining the British admiralty in such an illegal restraint of our commerce? Our packers shipped over $20,000,- 000 of provisions to Scandinavia. The provisions were thrown into prize court by Britain and con- demned in contravention of a direct protest from our government. The only condition on which the packers could get a cent in payment was to make an agreement thus described by the British government : The settlement further provides that his majesty's government, in considera- tion of a sum of money paid to the pack- ers, shall regulate the entire shipment by the packers of all packing house prod- ucts to neutral European countries dur- ing the continuation of the war. The government considers this provision to be of importance. This is but a type of illegal agree- ments in restraint of trade forced on Standard Oil, on our copper dealers, on our rubber and wool manufacturers. 300 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS All honor to Sweden. No Ameri- can can fail to echo the sentiments of admiration for that brave little land voiced by Senator Hoke Smith in the United States Senate: Mr. President, that splendid country, Sweden, those brave people, are standing out for their commercial rights. I want to reach a hand across the ocean and say, "We stand by you," not in a spirit of war, but in a spirit of courage and manhood ; not in a spirit of bullying. What I ask is that we let it be known that we understand our rights, not to bully Great Britain, but to call on Great Britain to return to law, to return to the law which she has made, and give Sweden's great statesman the support that action on our part would furnish to stand out against lawless acts. 1 long to see those principles of international law that Great Britain and the United States together have given to the world fully followed by both nations ; that they may mitigate the evils of war and help to strengthen the rights of those at peace. — June 1, 1916. ROUMANIA NEARING A DECISION The exact scope of the recently concluded agreement between Eou- mania and Germany becomes a mat- ter of intense interest as the Rus- sian offensive in Bukowina develops. If this agreement, contrary to the general impression, provides for military as well as commercial co- operation between Eoumania and the central powers, then Austria is as- sured of a diversion in her favor by Roumanian troops operating against the Russian invaders. If, on the other hand, the existing agreement is of a purely commercial character, then Eoumania is free to intervene on behalf of the entente. The psychological moment for the adop- tion of either course of action is ap- parently at hand. The entrance of Roumania into the war on either side will be an im- portant event, diplomatically if not in a military sense. Roumania can put at least half a million men in the field. Military preparations have been in progress in Bucharest since the intervention of Bulgaria in the operations last fall. All reports indicate that, so far as equipment and material are concerned, the Rou- manian army is in an excellent con- dition to take the field. But whether the Eoumanian army proves its ef- fectiveness or not in the first stages of the operations, the adhesion of Eoumania to either one side or the other will be rightly valued as the greatest diplomatic achievement of the war since the decision of Bul- garia to align itself with the central powers. As the Eussian troops advance into Bukowina, the pro-ally poli- ticians in Bucharest are exerting themselves to bring about a declara- tion of war against Austria. Eou- manians, rightly or wrongly, regard Bukowina as one of the unredeemed provinces of Eoumania. Take Jon- escu and his partisans are pointing out in these eventful days that with each day that elapses without action by Eoumania the chance for the presentation of a valid claim to Bukowina by Eoumania dwindles. On the other hand, the pro-Ger- man camp is assiduously pointing out the probability that the Eussian offensive may soon turn into a re- treat, as it did last year, and that, in such an event, Eoumania, as an ally of Eussia, would find itself be- tween the devil and the deep sea. As Eoumania is determined to be on the winning side this argument con- tinues to have much force at Bucha- rest.— -June 20, 1916. Peace FOUR THINGS AGAINST PEACE To the Editor of "The Evening Mail": Sir. — In the admirable editorial written for The Evening Mail by a writer of great vision and insight four powerful influences continu- ously at work for peace are pointed out. The four influences — motherhood, the Catholic Church, labor, and capitalism — are very strong, just as gravitation is very strong, dragging all the rainfall back to the ocean level. But there are four forces working against peace, forces stronger than the forces working for peace, just as the evaporative power of the sun is stronger than earthly gravitation, which can only drag back what the sun previously lifted, and perhaps not even that much. Instinct of Destructiveness The first of the war forces is the universal instinct of destructiveness and pugnacity in man. Even the constructive instinct is first destruc- tive. Why did 10,000 people take the long trip to Carson City? To see two men batter each other with their fists for a few hours ! Why, every year, do 30,000 crowd into the great arena at New Haven, with 3,000,000 more envious and regret- ful because they can't go? To see twenty-two college youths batter each other into insensibility. CONSOLATION Visitor — It's a terrible war, this, young man ; a terrible war. Mike (badly wounded) — 'Tis that, sor ; a tirrible warr. But 'tis better than no warr at all. — Punch. This is why several hundred thousand young men enlisted in our little quarrel with Spain. They craved the excitement of war! And the women are as intense as the men. In the Indian fight against Gen. Forsvth on the upper Arikaree the squaws squatted on the bank and urged the warriors on to death. In London to-day why do women wave white feathers at men on the streets? One poor wight, who had been refused enlistment three times, because unfit, was taunted into suicide. One young woman writes of her husband: "Harry is like a schoolboy enjoying a great experience. He says he would not be anywhere else for anything, and I agree. All men who are men should be out there, and I am de- lighted that he exchanged, and hope he will be able to remain until the end. He says discomforts make you enjoy your time off all the more." I have before me the highly en- tertaining story of a "deplorable" French soldier, sentenced to two years' imprisonment — after the war — because he constantly deserted his own regiment (not yet in active service), taking his outfit with him. SOS THE GRAVEST 366 HAYS Bui he was given a medal during the war because he was always in the thick o( the fight with some other regiment. 1 have also that wonderfully deep and pathetic letter of the German recruit who alternates pastoral remi- niscences o( the home farm with de- scriptions o( the soldier's frenzy. The fighting races of mankind are not yet pacifists. Their forefathers survived because they fought, and while extinction is no longer the lot o( the meek, the fighting strain still dominates. 1 am keenly sorry that my father died before the war occurred ; he would have taken such an interest in it. I am keenly glad that 1 am alive while it is going on. To have missed it would have deprived my life of one of its greatest experi- ences ! National Resentment The second great influence for war is the rankling sense of injus- tice and injury felt by every people (engaged. It matters not whether the cause is real or imagined, the .aching grievance is there. The Serbian resented the occupa- tion of Serb lands by Austria. Aus- tria resented the murder of her crown prince. Russia resented the threats by big Teutonic and Hun- garian Austria against the little Slavic Serbian brother. France and Russia resented the declaration of war by tier many. Belgium reseuted invasion. England resented the broken peace and broken treaties, and Germany resented European meddling in its allies' private quar- rel and also the threat of a world combined against, her. Nothing smarts and galls like in- justice, and as long as any people thinks it is suffering from intol- erable injustice and that it has a chance to win it will not lay down arms ! Fear of the Future The third influence in favor of the war's continuance is the fear of the future. Belgium tears national extinction, France fears further dis- memberment and imposition of staggering indemnity, England fears loss o( her Far-flung dominion, Ser- bia (like Belgium) fears extinction, Russia fears the fate of France in 1870, Italy fears fearful retribu- tion, it' Germany wins. Not one of these countries dares admit that it can lose. The blood curdles at the thought. Germany most sanely/ fears not only annihilation of all German ideals of systematic expansion, as well o( ideals to be secured by world expansion, but in addition fears six- told punishment it' the six allied powers win. What they separately and singly would like to do to her, Germany and all the world know; and all that stands between these plans and their execution is Ger- many's power not only to resist but to defeat her enemies. Her strong suit is not diplomacy, it is military organization and skill. The old conditions have passed away, never to be restored. Reconstruction Through Destruction The fourth influence against peace is the hope of reconstruction through destruction. 1 have seen engines tear up in a single day hun- dreds of acres of green, flowering prairie sod. The cruel plows tore and rended. made the beautiful liv- ing green a waste of dead brown, PEACE 303 but the destruction contained the hope of future crops of wheat to feed the world. Every nation has its instinctive inspired ideal for which its states- men strive and its commoners die: Deutschland uber Attest Of these the Belgians were the most brave! Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves! Allons enfants de les patrie, le jour de glorie est arrive! Banzai! The orient for the oriental! The Gross once more above the Cres- cent. Constantinople once more the capital of the eastern empire! Italia irredenta! Does any nation want peace not only with these ideals unrealized hut sinking into darkness like a fall- ing star? Besides these four great war forces there are many minor ones — the fearful disappointment, the wounded pride, the desire for re- venge that grows stronger with every added death, the fears of tot- tering dynasties, the blind credulity of those who think they have an in- fallible system, whether diplomatic or military. From the beginning of the world down Mother Eve has not been able to keep her sons from killing each other. From the dawn of Christianity the great Catholic Church has not been able to induce men to turn the other cheek. Fear is more powerful than any labor leader — even just ordinary fear which prevented the Socialists from resisting military service in times of peace. Capitalistic opposition did not prevent the American revolution nor the French revolution, nor our Civil War nor the Balkan troubles, nor the present war. At our very doors we see in a small scale and in a backward coun- try what is happening in Europe on a larger scale. How is motherhood bringing peace to Mexico? How is the Catholic Church in that most Catholic country bringing peace ? What successful resistance has the starved peon offered to his own de- struction ? What power do the enormously great capitalistic interests in Mex- ico exert? What have the four great peace forces accomplished in Mexico? Nothing. What will the four great peace forces accomplish in the world war? Nothing. They are not forces for peace as against war, they are upbuilding forces when war is over, when the wilder instincts are sated and drugged ! They are influences which retard before war begins ! After a religious war, a war for ideals is begun. It should be waged fast and furiously to a decisive end, to a peace from which to date a new era. The giants, by their strength, helped the gods build Valhalla. The dwarfs by their cunning destroyed the gods. But the twilight of the gods was the dawn of humanity. Harrington Emerson. New York, Sept. 18, 1915. A SIGN OF PEACE "Freedom of the seas a debatable matter," the House of Commons heard again on October 13 from 304 THE GRAVEST 866 DAYS Under Secretary Lord Robert Co- oil. The reiteration of this state- ment, after the Berions criticism of Sir Edward Grey's earlier remark, is the first definite sign thai the minds of England and Germany are not so far apart that their differ- ences cannot be compromised. Bethmann-Hollweg and other Ger- man spokesmen have repeatedly stated thai their battle was for the freedom o( the seas. In this manor, it was stated, the whole issue o( the war has been involved. Unless Ger- many has plans of conquest that cannot be compromised in a peace conference, there exists now an op- portunity for a disinterested effort to end the war. Perhaps the oppor- tunity for which our President has been waiting is at hand! — Oct. 15, 1915. MR. FORDS PEACE SHIP Opinions may differ widely as to the practicability of the peace movement represented by Henry Ford's projected trip to the warring- nations on board a poaoo ship. Some regard it as one of the most futile of all splendid ventures since the children's crusade. Others see in it the possibility, through its very idealism, of an effective appeal to the conscience of mankind. On one phase of Mr. Ford's sin- cere attempt to reach the mind and heart of warring Christendom all men may well agree — that it is a tangible expression of the thought that is dominating the peoples of the world, with the exeeption of the council chambers of one or two mighty nations. That thought is one of numbing weariness of war : of a deep and passionate desire that the slaughter of the race be stopped: of the time when the nightmare will be over and civili- lation will resume its interrupted >\\ ay. As the author oi a tangible ex- pression of this profound universal thought and feeling. Mr. Ford is do- ing a service to his generation. — Nov. -::. 1915. MR. FORD FACING THE FACTS Two irreconcilable forces are in imminent conflict with the plan proposed by Mr. Henry Ford to call the warring armies out of the trenches by Christmas. These forces are the powers oi the entente on the one hand and the powers of the Teutonic alliance on the other. Is it conceivable that Great Brit- ain would show the slightest dispo- sition to lend a patient ear to any talk of peace while the Germans re- main in Belgium, or while Ger- many shows not the most remote sign of a willingness to restore the kingdom oi Belgium in its integrity, as demanded by the oft-repeated British declaration on the subject? Is it conceivable that Germany would listen to any proposal to sheathe the sword before the ac- quisition of her irreducible mini- mum of conquest — a port on the English Channel, which she regards a- essential to the security of her future share oi the freedom of the seas ': Is it conceivable that Russia will prove amenable to any argument in favor of peace but the argument of army corps, while more than sev- enty thousand square miles of her territory is in occupation by the Cor mans? PEACE 305 A -I: the '.v'-im'ii of France, Mr. Ford, if they are willing to surren- der the richest part 01 Prance to the enemy who ig now occupying it . ? Ask the women of Germany if they would consent to leave the task of their country unfinished after the enormous sacrifices which they have made?— Nov. 30, 1915: MR. HENRY FORD It is part of my daily work to read the editorial pages of two or three hundred newspapers. I have found only one newspaper approv- ing his great venture. There is ridicule, sarcasm, scolding. He is the only man in the United States of great force of character, supreme ability and enormous wealth who has been willing to un- dertake a movement to crystallize and organize the deepest desires of all the peoples of the world. Let us imagine what might be done if the other Minsters of American achieve- ment should combine with him. Some years ago, when the indica- tions of this war were first visihle, I visited, as an editor, the capitals of England, France and Germany. It soon hecame ohvious to me, as it does to any observer, that the basic cause of national animosities is the rivalry of the merchants, manufac- turers and financiers of one country competing with those of another country to exploit the resources of the less well-organized regions of the world — Morocco, China, Asia Minor, etc., etc. It was essentially a problem of co-operation or competition. Such a problem as faced the business men of America during the last thirty years, and which led to such or- ganizations in America as the inited State.-, Steel Corporation; and it. seemed to me that, if the business powers of competing na- tion- would combine as the various enterprises that were unified in the I trust, war among nations could tie avoided, just as war among steel mills was avoided. There was one man, possessed of marvelous ability, in such work, and he further enjoyed ; , singular posi- tion of power and influence with the nations of Europe, namely, Mr. J. Pierponi Morgan. I had a vision of the leading manufacturers, shipowners, finan- ciers and publicists of the United Stale-. (England, Germany, France, Russia and Japan, to the number of one or two hundred, coming to- gether and, under the presidency of Air. Morgan, with a map of the world before them, agree on various :- 1 1 he res of influence, on territories where the interests of the various nations would co-operate, and settle by negotiation and agreement the conflicting aims and purposes, in- stead of by war. England and France had settled their mutual differences after cen- turies of rivalry and war. England and Germany had made most en- couraging progress in the same di- reefion. I saw a great deal of Mr. Morgan at Aix-les-Bains between my visits to the various capitals. He was somewhat reluctant to enter upon this plan, but he saw good in it. He finally expressed his willingness to co-operate toward the great end in view if our government would au- thorize him to act in this matter. For reasons not at all connected with the feasibility of this scheme, this purpose came to nothing. In a recent conversation with Mr. Gary, 306 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS chairman of the United States Steel Corporation, he said that at an in- ternational meeting of the steel manufacturers held in Brussels the men present said that if they had authority they could settle the ri- valries of the nations. Would it not be possible to or- ganize such a parliament even now? It certainly would if the men of Mr. Ford's standing and power of the nations at war and the great neu- tral nations should get together. At least hopeful progress might be made. — Dec. 3, 1915. IT IS HERE! The German and Bulgar armies may be crashing their way through Serbia, the Russians may be plung- ing desperately through the snow- drifts of their invaded country, the British and French may be explod- ing their mines under German trenches in Belgium and France; but while this devastating and tragic work is going on within the war zone, a mightier force than sword and gun is steadily taking possession of the minds of men throughout the world, shaping with compelling force the close of the terrific struggle. The blood-baited nations now engaged in destroying each other are not to be the final arbiters of their own fate. It is apparent now that the sober judg- ment of mankind at peace is to be the trumpeter that will sound the recall to the fighting armies. The humanities of civilization are to triumph over the horrors of war, and the better, nobler impulses of man are to rise above the savagery of the battlefield. The world of to- day does not live by the sword; it will not be permitted to perish by the sword. Slowly, at times almost imperceptibly, the influences for peace are multiplying throughout the world and shaping the destinies of the contending nations. The bat- tle bulletins are no longer scanned as the index and forecast of war's end. Their daily boastings of tri- umphs and defeats have come to be regarded now as merely so many evidences of man's inhumanity to man. Unconsciously, the world has turned from the field of passion to the calmer field of peace for its new Appomattox. Armies of half mil- lions and armies of millions may tramp the devastated countries over and score their triumphs in each other's blood as they will; but con- stantly looming larger as the con- trolling factor in ending this wast- age of mankind is the judgment of the world — the world at peace — that war must cease. That judgment has been formed. Baron Eiichi Shibusawa, Japan's leading financier, voiced it in his speech at the banquet in his honor in this city last Wednesday; Judge Gary and Frank Vanderlip voiced it in their recent addresses to busi- ness men ; the motherhood of the world makes its prayerful plea that its noble function and sacrifice should not be in vain. It must not be asked to give men to the world merely for slaughter. The humanities are winning their way over the lust for blood and the lust for gain; from the high towers of peace, built upon saddened hearts and desolated homes, where tear- dimmed eyes are watching through blackest night, comes back the hope- ful and inspiring word, now loud, now faint: "Lo, the dawn appear- ed !"— Dec. 3, 1915. PEACE 307 A SANE VOICE FOR PEACE A clear, sane voice comes from Switzerland, the storm less center of Europe's storm. It is the voice of Gen. Wille, the commander-in-chief of the Swiss army, one of the few first-class soldiers of the world, but a student of men and nations as well as of force and strategy. Gen. Wilfe bluntly suggests that it is up to the "two most powerful forces in the world" to combine to end the war. These forces he believes to be President Wilson and Pope Bene- dict. "A united appeal from these two most powerful influences in the world," says Gen. Wille, "seconded. as it would be, by other neutrals, could not but be heeded by all the warring nations." Gen. Wille knows the power this country might have if it would exert it. He knows, although he is not a Roman Catholic, the broad influence of the Pope, whose spiritual chil- dren are warring upon one another. Were these two forces combined as a center for the other neutral na- tions to gather about, it is unlikely, as Gen. Wille believes, that their mission would be in vain. To many of us an early peace has seemed out of the question because we have been assailed by the cries of the Furiosos of Europe and America. To take them at their words, nothing will satisfy any na- tion engaged in the war except the unconditional surrender of the foe or his complete destruction. This is as ridiculous as the talk, at an- other extreme, just before the war started. There couldn't be such a war; it was unthinkable; Europe had not gone mad; cool heads would prevail ; it was only one of those crises, etc., etc. But Europe did go mad, and blood-letting has restored a part of its sanity. Little stands now in the way of peace except about ten dif- ferent varieties of pride. If a neu- tral combination could tactfully shelve that pride, the rest would be easy. These warmakers are not demi- gods, these kings and kaisers, diplo- matists and general-staffers. Take away their studied calmness, their padded uniforms, their broad red ribbons and the babble of their trade, and they are gust poor human things with limited intellects, shoe- makers' chests — and heartaches. Nothing props them up in times like this but national unity. When that unity is for war, they are for war. When it is for peace, they must be for peace in spite of all their dis- sembling and circumlocution. But, like other humans, they need to be led.— Dec. 20, 1915. FORD Henry Ford is on his way home, apparently beaten early in his effort to bring about European peace. Ap- parently, we say, because Americans will refuse to attach much import- ance to the continuation of his cru- sade by others, no matter how many millions Mr. Ford may contribute. Ford himself was the spirit of the adventure, and the spirit may be broken. The person most surprised at the unfortunate outcome of the mission must be Henry Ford. He is, as he always has been, a man of the kind- liest nature. He has succeeded in business, not by conflict, as many men succeed, but by kindness, ex- 308 THE GRAYEST 366 DAYS pressed in the practical terms of fair treatment and co-operation. All his life has been devoted to improve- ment, whether of men. of birds, or of machines. It was his spirit of kindliness that led him to sail away OD what seemed a quixotic errand. He had do thought except that it was time for peace, and that some method — nebulous, perhaps — might be found to bring together the peace sentiment of the world. It matters little whether he understood condi- tions in Europe or not. He had a dream, and many things have come of such dreams. Yet this much was certain from the beginning: That Ford could not succeed, or even hope to succeed, un- less he was surrounded by people who dreamed his own dream, who thought of nothing but peace, who were willing to sacrifice anything — as he was willing — in order to bring peace. Instead of having such fellow- voyagers, the luckless Ford found as soon as he had put to sea that he had shipped not Unity, but Babel. What he needed was en- couragement, and he got argument. There was a mental mutiny against the gentlest of captains. So ready was the company to quarrel that it split upon the question of America's need for preparedness. So far as Ford's mission was concerned, this subject was no more germane than a discussion of predestination or pedestrianism would have been. If it hadn't been preparedness, it would have been something else, for these many minds wanted to strike sparks instead of uniting in one flame. Instead of hoping, dreaming and talking peace, so as to get them- selves into Ford's own spirit, his guests reveled in the unholy joys of individualistic conflict. The simple purpose of Ford was nothing to these geniuses, each with his or her pet plan. He was going over to bring about what must be a great compro- mise, a fusing of national minds, but the geniuses of the Oscar II. would have no compromise in theirs. And the geniuses had their way. Every extraneous topic about which a quarrel could be waged was dragged into make a holiday for the comedians of the world. Perhaps it never occurred to these people that one thing — and one only — should have been in their minds. If it did occur to them they dismissed it as something that would dim their in- dividual brilliance. Each wondrous personality must shine, even at the cost of the whole purpose of the voy- age. Happy Columbus, who had only one Martin Pinzon ! So Ford lias apparently failed for the reason that his companions lacked two of the most important things in the world, good sense and good manners. Apparently failed, hut not so evidently that the failure may now be written down as com- plete. At least Ford made an honest effort, even though it was thwarted by the selfishness of those wdiose un- selfishness he had taken for granted. At least Ford knocked at the door. If it swings open soon it may he be- cause of his quixotism and in spite of the bitter fate that befell his ven- ture.—/)^. 30, 1915. THE TERMS OF PEACE Belgium must he restored and in- demnified for the damages it has suffered by war before the allies of the quadruple entente will put an end to hostilities. PEACE 309 Such is the declaration of the entente powers, transmitted to the Belgian government at Harve, after the conference which the statesmen of Great Britain, France and Russia have been holding in Paris. This ac- tion hy three of the powers signatory to the treaty which guaranteed the neutrality of Belgium has the sanc- tion of Italy and Japan, the two members of the entente which did not sign the agreements of IH'-'jI and 1839. The declaration, therefore, constitutes the joint resolution of the five powers ranged against the central empires. This definition of policy comes at a psychological moment of the war and of history.' It comes at a mo- ment when Europe, staggering un- der the burden of fast-accumulating billions of indebtedness, and hied white by the carnage of more than a year and a half, is crying out for peace. In such moments nations do not babble of trifles. When they speak, as the entente has spoken, they speak with a sense of responsi- bility, with an appeal to the feeling and the conscience of the world. To ascribe the declaration to the desire of the entente to reassure Bel- gium would be to invest a solemn in- ternational utterance with a charac- ter of triviality. The assurance to Belgium must he read in the light of an international situation beyond precedent. Germany has announced that she is prepared to consider terms of peace. In the document transmitted to the Belgium govern- ment the allies may well be taken to indicate the minimum of concession which they intend to impose upon Germany — if they can. The terms of that minimum indi- cate that a great change has been wrought in the spirit of one-half of Europe; that it stands now much nearer to the other half. Here is no talk of the crushing of Germany; no word of the destruction of Ger- many's defensive and offensive power; no suggestion of any hope of subjecting one-half of the civiliza- tion of the old world to the domina- tion of the other half. "Restore Belgium, compensate it for its losses, and we shall be willing to talk peace." Such is the revised reply of the allies to Germany's announcement of a receptive frame of mind. It is a reply upon which it is possible to build hopes for the restoration of sanity in the councils of nations, for an end to the orgy of destruction. — Feb. 18, 1916. CECIL RHODES'S DREAM Not only from Germany, where Dr. Rohrbach talked of it with Mr. McClure, but from other parts of the world, come echoes of the suggestion of world union — a combination of powers so great that it would dom- inate the earth. The thought is not new. William T. Stead had it to write of in his day, as H. G. Wells writes of it now. It has been a fascinating topic for the dreamer, this idea of a white man's benevolent rulership of the world. There was one man who tried to make it real. To Cecil Rhodes a great thought was useless unless it took living form. He was a man of glorious visions — visions on which most men are content to live. He was not content unless his visions took tangible shape. He saw Africa as a continent that should be taken over by the white man before the black and yellow men should seize it. To transform 310 THE BRAVEST 366 DAYS the vision of a into roalitv he own government to send white man's Africa literally forced his its flag into the jungle. Some who watched him believed him a pirate, an unscrupu- lous grabber of wealth, a breeder of wars. In his own mind, doubtless. he would have been a bloodless Na- poleon, leading united white men to a vaster white man's world. Rhodes looked centuries behind, centuries ahead. He saw the advan- tages that had come to the white races — accidentally or otherwise — through climate, location, literature, invention, religion and all the other influences that cause a people to go ahead or fall back. Behind the pro- cession of Caucasian progress he saw the ranks of darker men. picking up as they plodded the benefit of the white man's invention. He saw the day. perhaps centuries ahead, when the darker races, armed with their copied knowledge, would menace the white empires. Against this possible day he planned a white man's union and Bowed the seeds of it in the Rhodes scholarships, which would bring together the youth of England, Germany and America : youth that was particularly fitted, not only in mind and body but in the peculiar and equally important gifts of man- hood and leadership. It was Rhodes's idea that this would be the beginning of a move- ment that would result in a white internationalism. He believed, as he said in his will, that "a good under- standing between England. Germany and the United States will secure the peace of the world: and educa- tional relations form the strongest tie." There would be mixed with the Englishmen of Oxford ninety Americans, seventy men from the British colonies and fifteen Ger- mans. For three years these men would be in daily contact. Great dreams like this come true slowly. White nations are using their science to kill one another. Black men anil yellow men watch and wonder — and wait. Down in Mataheleland. on the top of a great rock which he hoped might some day be the capital of a white man's Africa, are the bones of Rhodes, the dreamer. Yet the dream is not forgot. Even now. in the midst of war, wherever white men meet, some one recalls it. — Feb. 26, 1916. THE PEACE SCARE Yesterday, between 2 and 3 in the afternoon, this country had an ex- perience unique in the memory or history of ma it. In the closing hours of the New York Stock Exchange it had a "peace scare." Not only war stocks, but also standard securities like Reading, Canadian Pacific, To- bacco and American Woolens, dropped from one to three points. The world was informed that with our whole industrial power we had hot upon a long war. and we are now afraid we might lose. The "peace scare" has passed. The news which would have lifted the heavy load from a hundred million hearts was false. The Stock Ex- change breathes free again. — March '21. 1916. RESTORING OPPRESSED RACES There is hope for submerged na- tionalities in the purposes of Ger- many as outlined in the address de- livered bv Chancellor von Beth- PEACE 311 mann-Hollweg is the Reichstag the other day. Belgium is to 1><: restored, hut it is to he a new Belgium, in which the rights of the Flemish people, denied by the Walloons, are to be guaran- teed. As an earnest of its intention to rehabilitate the Flamands, the German administration several months ago reopened the Flemish university in Belgium. Poland is not to he returned to Russia, hut its national life is to be re-estahlished. No longer is the Polish language to he outlawed; no longer is the Russian language to he forced upon the Polish people in their schools, their universities and their puhlic institutions. By way of a heginning of this work of restora- tion, the Germans have already re- opened the Polish university of War- saw, suppressed for many years by Russia. Courland and Lithuania in all prohahility will he annexed to Ger- many. Such an annexation would constitute an act of simple racial justice, which the Courlanders would welcome with enthusiasm. There was a time within the mem- ory of the present generation when Courland was a German-speaking province in all hranches of the ad- ministration. It is still German- speaking, despite the oppressive measures which the Russians have applied in their attempt to Russian- ize it. Like Courland, Lithuania is much more German than it is Russian. By re-establishing the rights of suppressed nationalities in Belgium, Poland and that portion of the Bal- tic provinces which is under her con- trol, Germany would eliminate fric- tion in three of the danger-spots of Europe ; she would extinguish three of the sparks which, smoldering un- der the surface of the old world, have kept it on the verge of a con- flagration. — April 10, 1916. "RECONSTRUCTION AFTER THE WAR" In a puhlic lecture at New York University Mr. G. Lowes Dickinson, the famous English publicist and pacifist, recently spoke on "Recon- struction After the War." He out- lined and urged the plan of ex- President Taft's League to Enforce Peace as a preventive of future wars. The ideal situation, Mr. Dickin- son said, would he the formation of a world state on the lines of the United States of America, its con- stitution modeled on ours, "the best that exists." Russia w r ould he one of the states of this international United States, Germany another, we another. Each state would have two senators in the Senate, while repre- sentation in the lower chamher, the House, would be on the basis of pop- ulation. Universal suffrage would elect an international president and he would appoint a Supreme Court and command the joint interna- tional military forces. But, Mr. Dickinson said, the very statement of such a plan runs upon universal incredulity and dissatisfaction. We are trained to think and act on na- tional lines. Such a transformation is not practicahle. As this ideal is not attainable, Mr. Dickinson urges as a practicahle step in that direction the League to En- force Peace. America is asked to join this league, whose main prin- ciple is that its memhers shall first cease commercial intercourse and, if necessary, declare war upon any na- tion which attacks another without 312 THE GRAYEST 366 DAYS first submitting its dispute to inves- tigation and awaiting the results of that investigation before declaring war. The League to Enforce Peace is a good' thing for us to keep out of. Membership in it would obligate as to rack our economic structure and enter into armed conflict whenever any small state by its actions or its weakness invited aggression. This is the sort of entangling foreign alli- ance against which Washington so solemnly warned us. It is the sort of foreign alliance from whose neees- sity our isolated position protects us. It is all simply not our affair. It is possible to appreciate the sin- cerity and earnestness of Mr. Dick- inson without wholly agreeing with him. Not only docs his ideal inter- national state go too far, but his League to Enforce Peace also goes too far. At this stage of the world and of man's development we can- not hope to prevent all wars, nor do we desire to assure ourselves partici- pation in these wars. What we can do is to see to it that in future wars those who tight shall injure only themselves. To attain this end what we need is a League to Enforce Open Sea Pontes in Wartime. This means that we invite the nations of the world to form a league which will enforce the principle that private property at sea is inviolate in war as in peace. The members of the league would agree — as in the case of the proposed compulsory peace league — to first cease commercial in- tercourse with an offender against this principle of the free sea routes; then, if that did not suffice, to take up arms against the outcast. For America to take up arms in behalf of the right of our citizens to pursue their accustomed vocations, manu- facture and sell in their established markets, travel on the free seas with- out let or hindrance — this is a very different thing from taking up arms as a participant in European politi- cal quarrels whose origin, merits and outcome are none id' America's af- fair. If this principle o\' inviolate sea routes were established and enforced, there could never again be a repeti- tion of the wrongs and humiliations forced on us in this war. in whose making we had no part. Torpedo- ing merchant carriers, seizing ships ami confiscating cargoes, rifling in- ternational mail, suppressing cable communications, are all for the pur- pose of interrupting commerce on the sea and so starving the enemy. Their effect is to go far toward starving some neutrals and toward disrupting the economic stability of others. For immunity of private property on the sea in wartime this govern- ment has contended from the treaty of Paris in 1856 to this day. Im- munity of belligerent merchant ves- sels from seizure is another neces- sary corollary to the principle in question. The only object in seizing them is to starve the enemy by de- priving him of his carriers. But tins starvation process, in the interest of neutrals, is to be forbidden. Like- wise is to be forbidden confiscation of the carriers on which neutrals have come to rely. It may not be generally recalled that the United States refused to sign the treaty of Paris in 1856 because it did not pro- vide that enemy merchantmen should not be appropriated. Nor has our government ever re- linquished its position as arch-de- fender of the principle of free seas. PEACE 313 On July 21, 1015, Mr. Lansing wrote to Germany: The government of the United States find the Imperial German government are contending for the .same great ob- ject, have Jong stood together in urging the very principles upon which the United States now so solemnly insists. They are both contending for the free- dom of the seas. The government of the United States will continue to contend for that freedom, from whatever quarter violated, without compromise and at any t cost. Apart from all desirable, idealis- tic but Utopian plans of universal peace, the sure and attainable thing which the United States can con- tribute to the world is a League — for which other neutrals now long — to Enforce Open Sea Eoutes. If we cannot change human nature or na- tional ambitions, we can at least see to it that those who choose to fly at each others throats shall be forever debarred from also wrecking a peace- ful world. — April 15, 1916. THE WORLD COURT The World Court congress, which has been in session in New York, is a well-meaning attempt to accom- plish the impossible, and even the undesirable. The central idea of the delegates is ex-President Taft's scheme of a league to enforce peace. Nations which join this league are to apply their joint economic and military forces to put down any na- tion which goes to war without sub- mitting its cause to an international tribunal for decision or — in the case of questions of national honor — for investigation and report. The ker- nel of the plan is the maintenance of the status quo in the world. All this would accomplish in- ternational stagnation. Boundaries cannot now be arbitrarily fixed and maintained forever. Napoleon thought he had the map of Europe eternally laid out. He was wrong. When Napoleon fell the allies at the Congress of Vienna laid out the lines which nations were to keep. France, Austria, Prussia and Rus- sia bound themselves jointly to re- sist revolution and change. It could not be. The nineteenth century saw the establishment of an independent Belgium, a united Italy, a new Ger- man empire, the Americanization of Spanish .colonies. In this century the Japanese giant has awakened and stretched his mighty limbs, the Balkan nations have grown to ab- sorb most of Turkey in Europe, and the Russian colossus, balked in Man- churia, forced his way half through Persia to the Persian gulf. It is the law of growth. Nations grow weak and fall away, replaced by stronger and younger rivals. It must always be so. Who will dare to say that Japan now has territory commensurate with her national power, her vast birth rate? Who will care to sit on the safety valve of an international attempt forever to confine Germany in her present boundaries ? The United States has no business in the proposed league to enforce the status quo. Participation in such a league would mean the con- stant menace of being hauled into foreign quarrels in which we can have no possible interest. All our statesmen warn us against this. Are we to go to war whenever any blus- tering or decadent little state in- vites aggression? To-day the interest of the United States is not in a chimerical league to enforce peace, but in an interna- 314 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS tional agreement to confine the damage o( war to those who light. This means a league to enforce open sea routes — for Trade and travel — • in war time. Perhaps in the fu- ture we shall be interested in a world court, not to enforce the status quo, but to modify the status quo in the same manner that it would be modified by war. "Repre- sentation in this court would be on the basis o( military strength. Its rule would be progression, not stag- nation. Mr. Taft and the legalistic minds that follow him cannot enforce the status quo for the corporations they serve at home. That ts because such stagnation is contrary to the laws of life, growth, progress. Xo more can these men throttle life, growth, progress, regrouping in the interna- tional world. Mr. Taft's position on this inter- national problem recalls the reply which he gave to a voter who sought his advice on a personal matter in the campaign o( 1912. This man had many children, but no land and no employment. Those who pos- sessed the land and the implements for its cultivation had not furnished him, for the time being, with the opportunity for earning a living. To this man's question as to what he should do, Mr. Taft wrote him: "God only knows." Under the provisions of the World Court idea as enunciated by Mr. Taft. some nation might ask the same question of him. Some nation with a rapidly growing popu- lation, little or no room to ac- commodate its increasing numbers, might point to some other nation of a dwindling population and a great surplus of land, with an abundance of the implements for its cultiva- tion, and might ask: "What shall I do?" And Mr. Taft's answer, framed by the policy of his World Court, would be: "God onlv knows."— .!/(/// 5, 1916. NO PEACE IN SIGHT Secretary Lansing's explicit de- nial of the persistent rumors that a definite move had been made for peace in Europe will not come as a surprise to anybody who is famil- iar with the trend of events over- seas. And the best reason for as- suming that negotiations for the termination of hostilities are im- possible at present is to be found in the statement made on Sunday by President Poincare: "France does not want Germany to tender peace, but. wants her adversary to ask tor peace." M. Poincare's pointed summary o\' the attitude of France came three days after the reiteration by Sir Edward Grey of Premier Asquith's previous declaration that the en- tente allies would not consider peace until Germany had been com- pelled to do three things: 1. Restore Belgium and make full restitution for all the damages that have been suffered bv the Belgian people because of the military opera- tions. 2. Rehabilitate Serbia. 3. Abandon "militarism"' — that is to say, disarm. These three points in the treaty of peace which the entente allies profess themselves as willing to sign are once more indorsed by M. Poin- care in his latest declaration of what Prance and her allies regard as reasonable terms. The merest glance PEACE 315 at the military position which Germany occupies up to date will suffice to dispel any impression that she might be willing to accede to the entente's outline of the "ir- reducible minimum" of its desires. The plain fact is that as long as the entente holds to its present un- compromising attitude, just so long will Europe continue to bleed. The terms which the entente is seeking to impose upon Germany differ in no respect from those which an un- disputed victor might impose upon an enemy who has been beaten to his knees. That Germany is far from being in any position even ap- proaching defeat at the hands of the entente allies can be easily seen on the map of Europe. That there are even some Britons who recognize that Germany holds the unquestionable advantage of her enemies in every respect save sea- control, and that she is seriously disputing sea-control, is indicated by the following summary of the international situation by Dr. E. J. Dili ion, political correspondent of the London Doily Telegraph : Since October, 1915, the balance of war is decidedly against us. In fact, the enemy has conquered allied territory greater in extent than the German em- pire. And he is holding it, too. with a firm grip, while we are wrangling about "bargains, married men and other puerilities." On the water we are happily more fortunate. None the less even there the conditions have changed to our detriment. "Britannia Rules the Waves" has to be sung in a lower key than ever before. * * * Our loss of tonnage is disquieting. A curious in- quirer who should count the ships sunk since the opening of the campaign would arrive at noteworthy results. An ac- quaintance of mine who claims to have done this approximately sets down the loss of commercial shipping since the be- ginning of the struggle at over 0.000.000. Until a more objective view of these fact prevails, there can be no peace in Europe. — May lfi, 1916. THE PEACE LEAGUE It is vain to try to stigmatize as lovers of the sword those who do not believe in the League to Enforce Peace. It is opposed by those who love peace hut who know history, and who know the wide difference that separates the relations between citizens from the relations between nations themselves. • This league aspires to be an asso- ciation of powers pledged to use their joint military force to sup- press any nation that refuses to sub- mit to the league's court of investi- gation and arbitration all questions that cannot be otherwise settled with other nations. The league could not operate otherwise than to guarantee the status quo in Europe, and participation in this guarantee would mean for America not peace but a sword. A nation cannot grow in territory if its demand for growth is to be passed upon by its rivals. A judge of this international court could not vote against the vital interests of his country and those vital interests require that its rival shall not grow in territory and power. To under- take to say that present boundaries shall be permanent is for us to sit on a safetv valve of a great engine in which we have no direct interest. It is to participate in European alli- ances against which our statesmen have all warned us. It is to join in the system that in vain has tried to maintain the balance of power abroad. It is audacious to say that there ;i6 THE GRAYEST 366 DAYS would be no war if we were mem- bers of such a league. Every one knows that, when this conflict is over, half the world — so far as fight- ing force is concerned — will refuse to join such a combination. The present central powers will refuse to join. Having witnessed this war, do we care to bind ourselves to par- ticipate in a carnage the next time that Serbian officials assist a plot to murder the heir to the Austrian throne and the next time Austria insists on punishing Serbia for the crime? What is it all to us? It is enough for us to increase by arbi- tration treaties our own immunity from war and to participate in the processes by which nations are get- ting to know and understand each other, the processes of commercial, scientific, artistic and social inter- course. This must run its course, and there must be some approach to ; international homogeneity of feeling before we can talk of any real analogy between citizens of a nation and nations themselves who are citizens of the world. The League to Enforce Peace is well- meaning. But it is simply prema- ture.— May 20, 1916. A LEAGUE FOR TROUBLE During this week the League to Enforce Peace meets in Washing- ton. The projectors of this league want the United States to join with some otber nations in an agreement to use their joint military force to put down any country that refuses to submit its international disputes to the league's court of investiga- tion and arbitration. For America to join the league means for us to join in guaranteeing the status quo in Europe, the pres- ent European balance of power. Worse than that, it means placing our national destiny for all time in the hands of an alien court. No matter how well-meaning that court might be, it cannot and must not see with American eyes. But we want to retain control of our own destiny. It is easy to show why. In 1898 Spain had outlived her usefulness as a world power. The abuses of her colonial government in Cuba were such that they could no longer be allowed to persist in this hemisphere. The time had come for the last Spanish colonies to be either freed or differently gov- erned, and ours was the task of liberation. We undertook and ful- filled the task in the face of a hos- tile world, which now praises us. Xo world court could have met this need, for, after all, to a court the matter would be Spain's private af- fair. We drove Spain out in obedi- ence to something higher than hu- man law, something which courts, intent on conserving every one's "rights," cannot — from their very nature — recognize. When we were ready to build the Panama Canal, Colombia refused to sell us the zone of land which we required. What did we do? Some- thing which could have been ac- complished or sanctioned by no court. We recognized and upheld a revolution in Colombia whose pur- pose was to create a new state will- ing to sell us the canal zone. There is no legal defense for our act. But its result is the canal. And no legalistic mind can easily suggest another way in which the canal could have been attained. One instance more. Will the ad- vocates of this league tell us that PEACE 317 any international tribunal would for a moment uphold the United States in its exclusion of the Japan- ese? The law would not let us ex- clude them without also excluding all other immigrants. We have no legal "rights" to keep out the frugal Japs. It is not a legal matter at all ; it is a mere matter of the preserva- tion of our own civilzation. Under, the legal principle of international comity, the Japanese have a right to spread their civilization and spread it here, if other nations are allowed to do so. Our destiny belongs in our own hands. We shall make ourselves strong, not in order to abuse our power, but in order to defend our- selves against wrong and to control our fate. By international treaties we shall limit more and more the field of possible conflicts. Europe was far on this path to peace when the war broke. The Entente and the Triple Alliance, the German- French agreement on Morocco and the Anglo-Russian partition of Per- sia needed only to be supplemented by Anglo-German and German-Rus- sian agreements to remove the causes of European friction. The Anglo-German agreement was not far from being signed in August, 1914. When this war is over, we hope that the European belligerents will supply the missing links in the partly forged chain of peace. But until that time we do not choose to sign an agreement to participate in every war in which they become embroiled.— May 23, 1916. PEACE WITH SECURITY By universal feeling England and Germany are regarded as the two great protagonists of this war. Both are fighting for the same thing — peace with security. All Germany absolutely believes that Russia planned for this war, and was the immediate cause thereof. Germany wants securitv against an over- whelming Russia. Germany believes that King Edward VII. maliciously and purposely surrounded her by a group of powerful and agressively hostile nations. Most of Germany believes that envy was at the bottom of this war. All England believes absolutely that Russia planned no aggression ; that this is Germany's war; that the doctrine that might makes right is fundamental in German national policy; that there is no safety from war in the world until Germany's military power is crushed. In each country there is an absolute body of beliefs that constitute the dominat- ing state of mind that in each case is pervasive, universal and intense. These states of mind constitute the great and most powerful of the im- ponderables of the war. They can be removed only by years of fight- ing that will lead to complete ex- haustion, or by the injection of some new force or idea that will produce the absolute conviction of security in the minds of the peoples of the warring nations. It is possible that the United States might be that new force that will bring that sense of security without which this war may continue for many years. The President's speech has made vivid the idea "of a union of the United States with the nations of Europe for the purpose of assuring peace with justice and security. — May 29, 1916. 318 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS ANGLO-SAXONS One striking incident stands forth in the story which S. S. McClure Thursday night told of his experi- ences on the continent. It was not the marvelous tales of German effi- ciency in economic reorganization, the pathetic incident of those train- loads of dazed refugees from Galicia, nor the strange picture of fighting fronts where no living thing was visible, where you can scarcely find the artillery of your own side, to say nothing of the enemy's artillery ; where men are killed without ever seeing a single foe. The striking sketch which Mr. McClure drew was of a dinner with the general and staff of the Twelfth army on the Eussian front. The American arose and proposed a toast to an alliance of England, Germany and the United States in the work of carrying forward civil- ization and peace. The German staff answered the toast with cheers. In 1902, when Cecil Ehodes's will was read, it was found to con- tain provision for liberal scholar- ships for Americans and Germans at Oxford. These are the words in which he explained his gift: The object is that an understanding between the three great powers will render war impossible, and educational relations makes the strongest tie. It does the heart good to learn that amid all the horrors and hates of war the ideals of an Anglo-Saxon leadership of the world still lives. Its roots are deeper than the alli- ance and intrigues that fester around the outbreak of this war. That sentiment of a common des- tiny of co-operation, not civil strife, between these three nations, is in the blood. Those who work to foment hate between England and Germany work against the Anglo-Saxon idea. The world needs both of them in full undiminished strength and sov- ereignty. British traditionalism and German rationalism are the two qualities which, if combined with the force and energy of the new American world power, will furnish the elements and set the pace for world progress. Enough of this talk of England destroying Germany or Germany destroying England. Either event would mean the same calamity as for one of them to de- stroy the United States. In their hearts what do Germany and England want? Security. What does the United States most want to-day? Security. Can any man name a way so certain to reach this goal as by the realization of an Anglo-Saxon understanding? Or is there any other way so certain, so easy of attainment, for assuring the peace and progress of the world? It is an alliance for which our in- stincts cry out, an alliance which can be widened to embrace more ex- tensive forms of internationalism. The alternative? Germany seeks security. She finds it with us or elsewhere. If we shut her out from England and America in the west, she will turn to alien strangers in the east. No one who knows poli- tics doubts that Germany can in the future achieve an alliance with Eus- sia and Japan, if she will pay the price. Nor would the price come out of Germany's pocket. It would be paid from the coffers of civiliza- tion; the price would be the occi- dental abandonment of Asia. No responsible thinking person wants to face such an eventuality. Germany belongs where she seeks PEACE 319 to be ; with her brothers in the west. — June 3, 1916. THE GREAT OBSTACLES TO PEACE By S. S. McCltjre I publish to-day, side by side, a translation of a part of Von Beth- mann-Hollweg's speech delivered in the Reichstag the 5th of April, and two statements by Sir Edward Grey. Von Bethmann-Hollweg expresses not only his views but his feeling in regard to Germany's enemies as the universal feeling in Germany. The state of mind in Germany is that Germany is the innocent vic- tim of a vile and malicious con- spiracy of envious nations, who be- gan to form a coalition against her under the leadership of the late King Edward VII. This war must be fought until the safety of Ger- many is so securely established that the tragedy of 1914 cannot happen again. Sir Edward Grey's interview given to a correspondent of the Chicago Daily News is a picture of the minds of all the people of England and France. In each of the hostile nations there is a vast and constantly in- creasing mass of printed material, in newspapers, pamphlets, periodi- cals and books, that nourishes the respective states of mind and con- tinually increases the obstacles to an early peace. We, in the United States, are familiar with both states of minds, so it is not necessary to illustrate beyond the statements of Sir Ed- ward Grey and Von Bethmann-Holl- weg, nor should it be necessary to state that in each country the con- tending beliefs are held with the most absolute conviction and sin- cerity. There is one common desire — namely, Security. It ought not to be beyond the ability of statesmen to give a real meaning to The Hague. And as there seems to be a growing feeling that the United States should join a group of nations that would ex- alt peaceful methods of settling in- ternational differences, we can con- fidently hope that in some fashion the entente of the nations of Eu- rope, so nearly accomplished in 1914, may be advanced again and be the most lasting benefit of this war. The addition of the United States would insure peace and se- curity for the world. Yesterday, I received from Prof. Kuno Meyer, the well-known Celtic scholar, a copy of a letter to him from Mr. Roosevelt which I publish here because it is in harmony with what is best for the world. The letter was written by Col. Roosevelt on the occasion of Dr. Meyer's betrothal to Mrs. Florence Lewis, and is now published with the consent both of the writer and the addressee : Sagamore Hill, December 17, 1915. Dear Mr. Meyer — Wars pass, and international enmities pass also, in time — long or short — and friendships should be interrupted by them as little as may be. One of the very real griefs to me, in connection with the present contest, is that I suppose most of my German former friends will never be friends with me again. I am glad you will not be among them. I congratulate you most heartily ; and if you and your betrothed are ever near Oyster Bay it would be a pleasure to see you at our house. Sincerely yours, THEODORE ROOSEVELT. Hne 10, 1916. 320 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS MR. BRYAN'S SPEECH ON PACIFISM BEFORE THE TEACHERS By S. S. McCluke One's first impression of Mr. Bryan's address before the many thousands of teachers from all over the United States is that it is pre- historic. It has a far-away, unreal soimd. That Mr. Bryan should utter such views as he did is not strange. His mind is detached from realities. He lives mostly in the fourth dimen- sion. Bnt it is important and thought-provoking that his ideas were received with the most chaleur- ous applause by this representative body of the teachers of the United States. Mr. Bryan's pacifism is prehistoric only in the sense that he is living in the unreal atmosphere of two years ago. Mr. Bryan never learns. He is a huge baby. He has the appear- ance of a man, with the artless mind of the infant. When he was Secretary of State and a dignitary of the Catholic church begged him to take steps to protect the nuns, many of whom had suffered the ultimate outrage, he re- plied : "Oh, what was suffered by the Mexican nuns happened to two school teachers from Iowa who were raped by Mexicans." All the incredible outrages on American men and women in Mex- ico and in the United States, re- ferred to by Secretary Lansing, meant nothing to Mr. Bryan in the way of using the power of the United States to protect Americans from the foulest outrage and incredible torture. What shall one say about the teachers who applauded with such warmth the absurdities and danger- ous ideas of Mr. Bryan ? Mr. Bryan's views are not pre- historic. When the United States was a new and feeble power it de- stroyed the tyranny of the Barbary pirates to protect American citizens in the Mediterranean. Let the teachers study that portion of our history. Had the United States simply taken a humane stand in regard to atrocities on its citizens in Mexico these atrocities would not have oc- curred. During that terrible night in Tampico, after the U. S. fleet had been ordered out to the open sea leaving 4,000 Americans and Euro- peans to be the victims of lust and rapine, one little German gunboat held the Mexicans in check, thus showing what a slight exhibition of firmness could do. History will charge Mr. Bryan's administration of the State depart- ment as largely responsible for the utterly unprecedented situation de- scribed so ably by his successor. Supposing Mr. Bryan had spoken as follows to the teachers of Amer- ica, whose responsibilities toward the coming generations exceed that of any other class of our people: "I cannot recommend to your notice measures for the fulfillment of our duties to the rest of the world without again pressing upon you the necessity of placing ourselves in a condition of complete defense and of exacting from them the fulfill- ment of their duties toward us. The United States ought not to indulge a persuasion that, contrary to the order of human events, they will forever keep at a distance those painful appeals to arms with which PEACE 321 the history of every other nation abounds. "There is a rank due to the United States among nations which will be withheld, if not absolutely lost, by the reputation of weakness. If we desire to avoid insult we must be able to repel it; if we desire to se- cure peace, one of the most power- ful instruments of our rising pros- perity, it must be known that we are at all times ready for war. "But in demonstrating by our conduct that we do not fear war in the necessary protection of our rights and honor, we should give no room to infer that we abandon the desire of peace. An efficient prepa- ration for war can alone secure peace. "The organization of 300,000 able-bodied men between the ages of 18 and 26 for offense or defense at any time or at any place where they may be wanted. We must TRAIN A^D CLASSIFY THE WHOLE OF OUR MALE CITI- ZENS and make military instruc- tion a part of collegiate education. We can never be safe until this is done. "To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of pre- serving peace. A free people ought not only to be armed, but disci- plined ; to which end a uniform and well-digested plan is requisite." If Mr. Bryan had made this little speech he would have been guilty of a noble plagiarism. The first two paragraphs were by George Wash- ington, the third by John Adams, the fourth by Thomas Jefferson and the fifth by Washington. What would the teachers who ap- plauded Mr. Bryan have said to this?— July 6, 1916. THE NEW PROSPECT OF PEACE The portent of the new treaty be- tween Russia and Japan is looming large upon the horizon of the Brit- ish Empire. The Russo-Japanese explanation of the purpose of this agreement is too ingenuous to be true. Alliances are not formed to drive out a country which already has been driven out. Germany no longer possesses a foot of land, a harbor or a warship in China or its adjacent waters. Therefore the Russo-Japanese presentation of the aim of the new pact as being the permanent exclusion of Germany from the Far East sounds far- fetched and fanciful to British ears. Britons who direct public opinion and public affairs cannot fail to realize that it is England and not Germany that stands in the way of Japanese and Russian ambitions in the Far East. The summaries of the world's trade have shown for years that Britain was the dominant commercial factor in China. Eng- land's traders, scattered all over the productive parts of the Chinese re- public, are the successful barriers to Japan's passionate desire to achieve the commercial domination of China. This fact is keenly realized in Tokio. On the other hand, British states- men and British traders alike are coming to a poignant comprehension of the fact that Japan is bitterly re- sentful of continued British com- mercial mastery in the Far East; that Japan is boldly throwing out commercial and political lines which will menace British primacy in China. A year ago, when Japan presented to Pekin the series of de- mands which spelt exclusive privi- 322 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS lege for Japan and the Japanese in China, British public opinion was so strongly wrought up against Tokio's aggressions that only the highest political wisdom staved off an open breach between Britain and her ally who was fishing in troubled waters. But that breach has been only staved off. It has not been definitely averted. Britain sees her commer- cial empire in the Far East doomed by the activities of two of her al- lies. That vision cannot fail to ex- ert a powerful influence upon the course of events on the battlefields of Europe. It is an influence for peace, working in the direction of a rapprochement between Great Brit- ain and Germany. While Germany was unqualifiedly victorious by the verdict of the map, peace could not be thought of at London. Now that Germany has been driven back some- what on two fronts, the prospect of peace is not so unattractive to Brit- ish eyes. The appalling price which Britain has paid for her inconsider- able gains on the Somme is another argument for an early peace. Brit- ain has tacitly abandoned the plan which she proclaimed at the begin- ning of the war — the crushing of Germany. There is no more talk in England of putting an end to Ger- many by dismembering the German nation. Therefore, the inducement for a continuance of a war which is decimating the manhood of Brit- ain as well as that of her great enemy has vanished. On the other hand, Britain is re- alizing that the new alignment of military power suggested by the Russo-Japanese treaty — an align- ment hostile to the very life of the British Empire — will once more place her in her former position of isolation among the nations of the world. British statesmen are awak- ening to the fact that, by continuing their campaign against Germany, they are only throwing their one possible strong ally into the arms of their future enemies, the allied Russians and Japanese, after the war. Such an eventuality would place England completely at the mercy of her great commercial rival in the Far East. The picture of England's future is made still more somber by the fact that Japan al- ready is geographically within strik- ing distance of India, and by the additional fact that Japan's motto is "Asia for the Asiatics." This combination of forces has brought back the thought of many to the great vision of Cecil Rhodes. England, the United States and Ger- many in alliance could secure, for several generations, at least, com- plete dominance of western civiliza- tion and of West European ideals. During the next two generations the fate of Africa, of South Amer- ica, of Australia and much other territory that is not yet fully settled will be determined. How much of this surface is to be the white man's country? It is for us of this gen- eration largely to determine, not by our words and professions, but by our deeds. Mr. S. S. McClure's toast at a banquet of the staff officers of the German armies in Poland found hearty response. "To the United States, Germany and England, in alliance as leaders of western civili- zation !" Even in the midst of the bitterest fighting, the age-old dream of a white man's world lives as an indication of the deepest racial pur- poses. — July 18. 1916. PEACE 323 THE VITALITY OF NATIONS The official bulletins from Petro- grad these days indicate a dubious outlook for Austria- Hungary if they be taken at their face value. They would imply a state of mind in Vienna which is not at all in ac- cord with the gay traditions of the capital of the "eastern empire." In Vienna itself, however, there is no depression observable which corre- sponds even measurably with the Petrograd bulletins. While they are making plans at Vienna to check the Eussian advance, they are going on in buoyant mood with projects for the improvement of their city to fit it for the greater destiny which is in store for it in the event of a victorious outcome of the war for the central powers. Vienna is so sure of the collapse of the Eussian offensive and of the ultimate triumph of Austro-German arms that her chief municipal archi- tect, Heinrich Goldemund, is per- fecting a scheme of improvements which shall make the already beau- tiful city more beautiful than it is. No great city would profit so much from the restoration of peace as would Vienna in the event of the retention of the "bridge" to the East which has been built by Aus- trian, German and Bulgarian bay- onets. In ancient times the capital of the "eastern empire" was the great entrepot for the trade of the East, creeping by caravan from Asia across the Balkan peninsula and through Hungary on its way to the markets of the west. This trade, greatly augmented by the opening up of Asia Minor and by the improvement of land communi- cations which have been already partly accomplished, will flow from east to west and from west to east in an ever increasing volume after the war. Vienna is preparing to accommodate it even while the Eus- sian guns are roaring at Kirlibaba. And the ambitious designs which Vienna is preparing to put through as soon as the international council shall have withdrawn from the green table is a marvelous demon- stration of the warm, young blood that flows in the veins of nations even the oldest of them, in a time of crisis. — Aug. 2, 1916. PEACE NOT YET IN SIGHT A grim determination to continue the struggle with unabated energy is the consensus of European feel- ing as indicated by the manifestoes of sovereigns, the utterances of statesmen and the forecasts of sol- diers at the opening of the third year of war. Stripped of their ver- biage, of their political appeal and of their partisan argument, these utterances resolve themselves into one unanimous declaration : "Nobody has yet won a decisive victory. We must fight on until the other side admits defeat." Germany, despite some recent re- verses, is still in a position to point to the map as the measure of its military achievements. And behind the military achievements is the outstanding fact of an improvement in the internal condition of the central powers, by reason of the good harvest, which in some parts is already being gathered. The allies of the entente, having assumed the offensive on both fronts, are keen in their desire to push to the utmost whatever advantage they may have achieved. Of this group 324 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS of powers Russia is especially un- willing to tolerate the sound of the word "peace," in view of the ad- vance of her troops in both regions and especially in Asia Minor, in the direction of the much-desired outlet to open water. In view of the belligerent voice of Europe on this sinister anniver- sary, there is every reason to expect a continuance of the terrible slaughter which has decimated the young manhood of the old world, and has sown a crop of rancors and resentments which will be transmit- ted from generation to generation. There is only one hopeful feature of the situation. The demands of all the belligerents have been modi- fied by the bitter logic of battle- fields. It has become a settled con- viction in the minds of peoples and of statesmen that no nation will be sentenced to death in the council chamber of Christendom at the end of the war. Each of the great bel- ligerent groups has acquired a new respect of its antagonists. No na- tion, after the sacrifices and the heroisms which have marked all nations during two years of appal- ling conflict, is uttering the words "I will destroy."— A ug. 2, 1916. Nationalism and Internationalism COURAGE On the body of a German officer who was killed in Champagne they found a letter. At the end of a de- scription of what he saw in those three days of terrific war — a de- scription in which he mingled ex- pressions of hate and admiration for the French artillery — was this sentence : "God knows what they have blown up now ! From this moment I have lost all sensation of feai." It was not that he had ever lacked courage ; but the moment had come when his courage no longer was needed to combat with fear. Philip Gibbs, writing from the British headquarters in the western theatre of war, says: "Yet in the conclusion of this long dispatch I must say there are no signs of deterioration in the fighting qualities of our enemy. On the contrary, the recent fighting has shown that the majority are very brave men, determined to sell their lives dearly, and in many cases will- ing to fight to death when surrender would be easy." When Irvin S. Cobb returned from Europe he said that everything in war was different from what he had expected to see — except cour- age. "There are no cowards in the world," he said. The thing hideous to consider is that every day, every hour, is less- ening the numbers of the brave. Every hour the proportion of weak- lings in Europe is increasing. Men who have courage prove it — and die. When the war is over there will be work that will require a differ- ent, but equally admirable, courage. Eepairing the waste will be a job for strong hearts. But if the cour- age that has illumined the battle- fields can be applied to the duller work of field and factory the task will not be hopeless. — Oct 11, 1915. AN INTERNATION OR IN- TENSER NATIONALISM? Halil Bey, talking for the Turk- ish government, prophesies the cre- ation of a new economic unit that will comprise Germany, x\ustria, Bulgaria and Turkey with a free in- terchange of goods among them- selves and tariff walls against out- siders. "The most important result of the war," he asserts, "is that from the North sea to the Indian ocean a mighty group is being created which will forever maintain itself against British selfishness, French revenge, Eussian ambition and Italian treach- ery." Out of this speaks an intenser na- tionalism than has been known in the past. Instead of one power, a group of powers to build tariff walls against all other powers, consolidat- ing their own armed forces and looking from within upon the world as a field for their commercial exploitation backed by military strength. 326 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS A few days ago in the English Parliament a member of the gov- ernment suggested that after the war England would consider a new ar- rangement of prize courts, providing for a tribunal composed of judges from various nations. To this new court, he said, appeals from the local English courts could be taken. His remarks came to many as a ray of light pointing the way to an internation. They raised hope for an international system that would guarantee equal opportunity to all the nations, just as equal opportun- ity to the individual has been guar- anteed by political achievements in the past within the boundaries of certain nations. If ocean-borne commerce is free in time of war as in time of peace the struggle of nations becomes a matter of rivalry in which the fittest will succeed and the ablest prosper. The peaceful countries, looking on, will not see their own trade crippled by a conflict for which they are in no way responsible. But individual opportunity was never won except against the bitter- est opposition. So it was with this first hint at international equality. Hardly had the words been spoken in Parliament when a protest arose from the camps of nationalism. The London Morning Post, com- menting on the action of the For- eign office, says : "We do not propose to commit the decisions of a British judge to a mongrel assembly of foreign jurists in which Great Britain can be out- voted by representatives of Ecuador, Bolivia, Switzerland and Germany. The record of the Foreign office is sufficiently dubious. It may be that its series of unparalleled blunders is due simply to incompetence. If it is not incompetence, what is it?" Here, then, are two outspoken as- sertions of nationalism against one modest hint at an internation. From Turkey and England comes the same demand for the fencing off of powers and groups of powers. Every time this demand is voiced by either side in the European war the ideal of international equality of opportunity seems less attainable. Is the tremendous sacrifice of the battlefields to be wasted? Out of all this pain and impoverishment is the world at large to gain nothing? This, it would seem, will be the sad result if nationalists are in the saddle when peace is made. Those who speak with the voice of Halil Bey and the London Morning Post will simply lay aside their arms for other implements with which to build even higher walls against the just ambitions of their neighbors. Selfish tariffs and jealous trade policies will still divide the world into isolated groups. The excess energy of nations again will strain at the artificial barriers. Finally some one of them will try to break through — and there will be another war. What shall it be after the next peace is made — an internation or Halil Bey's conception of several federations in deadly economic and military rivalry? America is the great leader of the peaceful powers, and when the time comes she must give the answer. — Oct. 13, 1915. THE INTERNATIONALISM OF MANHOOD How many times have we heard that the German was efficient so NATIONALISM AND INTERNATIONALISM 327 long as his employer or the great general staff stood at his elbow, whispering to him. what to do. But the German had no individuality, no resourcefulness. When thrown into unexpected situations he was helpless, like an automaton with its wire cut. The German was the machine-like victim of a militaristic state, which shackled the free ex-, ercise of thought and crushed out individuality. These could thrive only under the particular form of government developed by Anglo- Saxons. Perhaps we so long ac- cepted this philosophy, made in London, because we were graciously considered to be among the elect. The war has shattered many il- lusions, among them this one. The first difficulty in England was to harmonize the theory with the ex- ploits of Weddigen, pioneer in the art of navigation in a new element. There were no precedents, and none could be given him, for handling the strange, new, fragile craft in the home waters of the greatest naval power in the world. After Weddigen, Karl Muller, of the Emden. Boys no longer read Stevenson for romance of the sea. They read the tale of Muller and the Emden, Cut off from home com- munication — he could use his wire- less only to steal the messages of British' and Japanese warships that hunted him. He had no naval base to draw from, so he provisioned and coaled himself from captured Brit- ish merchantmen. He took aboard their crews and with their rich freight carpeted the floor of the Indian ocean. At dawn he sailed into the harbor of Penang and un- der the guns of the British fortress sank a Russian cruiser and a French destroyer. Muller and the Emden fell before the Sydney off Cocos Island. Part of the Emden crew, among them Miicke, were marooned on shore when the Emden was sunk and the Sydney sailed off with her com- mander. Miicke and his compan- ions seized an old schooner, were later transferred to a German coast- ing vessel which they found at Pa- dang, and threaded their perilous way through hostile waters to a landing on the Red sea. They fought through the tribes of a thou- sand miles of Arabian desert and at last were hailed as conquerors at Constantinople. It is like the tale of Odysseus. And now Berg and his prize of the Appam. A German tramp steamer with mounted guns creeps out of Kiel and past the British isles. Off the west coast of Africa she sinks eight British vessels and accumulates their crews and passen- gers. To assure them comfort she spares the Appam, pride of the Elder-Dempster line, puts 429 cap- tives on board in charge of Berg and twenty-two men, and sends them to Norfolk. Faithfully Berg slips through the cordon of British cruisers that hold the Atlantic and interns his steamer, a lawful prize, at Hampton Roads. Bravery and resourcefulness are not specific attributes of men of English descent. Whatever the ef- ficient German system does, it does not crush out the individuality of the men who live under it. — Feb. 5, 1916. BOASTFUL HISTORIES Self-delusion is the resort of the stupid. It is so futile an expedient that even the ostrich, contrary to 328 THE GRAYEST 366 DAYS the old legend about his habitual endeavors to escape the hunter by thrusting his head into the desert sand, does not employ it. Some in- telligent nations, however, make up for deficiences in their perform- ances by setting down apocryphal accounts of such performances in their histories and especially in their text-books on history. Such a practice is as injurious in its effects upon the national or- ganism as is the use of drugs upon the body and the mind of the in- dividual. The errors and short- comings of nations, like those of individuals, can be remedied and rectified only when they are recog- nized, analyzed and traced to their causes. Franklin D. Roosevelt, assistant secretary of the navy, pointed out in a recent address some of the de- lusions which have become a mat- ter of common belief through the unwarranted liberties which have been taken with the facts of history in the text-books from which our young glean their ideas of their country's greatness. He mentioned the fact that Amer- ica's victory over the Barbary cor- sairs is maflrmfied in these books, while the fact that for years Amer- ica paid an annual tribute of $100,- 000 to those freebooters of the sea is passed over gently and unobtru- sively by deft authors. He called attention to the meager achievements of our army in the war of 1812, generally characterized as a triumph for American arms, and ascribed our escape from dis- aster largely to the fact that "a gentleman by the name of Napo- leon" was "keeping the British busy about that time." He might have gone on and mul- tiplied instances of the self-com- placency which has long been a national vice. It is time we abandoned the drug- taking habit in our school books and devoted ourselves to the task of taking a good look at our faults as a preliminary step to their elim- ination. Let us, as a nation, be at least as free from self-delusion as the ostrich, who has so long been maligned by nature-fakers. Let us have' the truth.— May 25, 1916. THE JOURNALISM OF HATE By S. S. McClure Letter received by Mr. McClure To the Editor of The Evening Mail: Sir — With thousands of Americans who deplore the special pleading of the subsidized British press of New York City, and who admired the fair and im- partial stand taken by The Evening Mail in regard to the frightful war that is de- vastating Europe. I am greatly surprised anu shocked by the change of front as- sumed by your newspaper since Mr. Mc- Clure returned from Europe. Formerly you dared to criticize the violations of American rights practiced by the English government : to-day no such editorials are to be found in your columns. Formerly you gave a just presentation of the German side of the argument in the world war : to-day you prate of Turkish atrocities against the Armenians. In this evening's Mail you have not a single line upon Sir Roger Casement's trial or his great speech upon the rights of Ireland. I will not buy your paper again. selden b. Mclaughlin, p. j. reilly. Fordham, June 30. Since I returned from Europe I have endeavored to print the exact truth as I saw it. While the circu- lation of The Mail shows no de- crease, I am bound to admit that NATIONALISM AND INTERNATIONALISM 329 never before in my editorial career have I received such a mass of disapproving letters, equally from those who are pro-ally and pro- German. One disgusted reader wrote me that I was neither flesh, fish nor fowl. If my happiness depended on my correspondence I would be a very unhappy man. . . Now, I have simply told the truth. I told the truth about the absolute- ly sincere efforts of von Bethmann- Hollweg and the Kaiser to prevent war, and those who are not happy unless they are told that this war was made in Germany visit their wrath on me. Equally unhappy are the haters of England when I show that England and Germany had almost consummated a treaty that would have insured the peace of the world for a long time. Inasmuch as this treaty proves that England and Ger- many had settled their differences and that the great cause of war in Europe had been removed, it must follow, especially in view of the documents, that both countries are guiltless of this war. These state- ments anger equally those who want to blame the country they hate. Uncontrollable Forces The people of Europe, one and all, are more the victims of uncon- trollable forces than chargeable with the guilt of this war. People to-day equally admire Lee and Grant and Stonewall Jackson. Yet a little more than half a cen- tury ago an inconceivable hatred was felt towards each other by the North and the South. There was one man who said : "Malice towards none and charity for all." One of the most baneful forces in the world is the journalism of hate. The newspaper as an institution is scarcely a hundred years old. It might be the organ of human fel- lowship and universal good-will. It ought to be. No one knows better than I how feeble is the power of one editor. Yet such power as I possess will be used in the direction of sympathy and good-will to the suffering peoples of all the warring nations. Let me give just one illustration of the tremendous consequences that may be traced to the greatest cam- paign of journalistic hatred the world has ever known. During the Boer war the news- papers of most countries turned against England. Such was the hatred inspired in France that it was unwise to speak English in a crowd. The German press was also incredibly bitter. In many other countries, especially in Italy, Rus- sia and the United States, a similar hostility permeated the newspapers. About fifteen years ago, in Lon- don, an Englishman whose name is known all over the world said to me after a conference with leading Englishmen : "This is the darkest day in our history. Within fifteen years the British empire will be fighting for its existence." England's Position England stood alone. Self-pres- ervation led English statesmen to prepare for the threatened Arma- geddon. In 1902 the treaty of al- liance with Japan was made. In 1904 an agreement was made with France, removing the causes of dis- pute and bringing about an entente. In 1907 the long-standing rivalries 330 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS with Russia were settled by a treaty. The great powers of Europe and Asia had aligned themselves in two great and mutually hostile state sys- tems. Mutual distrust was the dis- tinguishing note of Europe. The atmosphere of mutual dread and dislike gave such tone and direction to public opinion in the nations of Europe that when the murder of the crown prince of Austria-Hungary led the dual empire into war with Serbia it was impossible to deal with the resulting situation calmly. Many causes near and remote led to the great war, but the condition of mind that made these causes ef- fective had its origin largely in the journalism of hate during the Boer war. Although England and Germany had drawn together, the seed of hatred and disgust sown during the early years of the century matured into the terrible harvest we are now witnessing. If the press of the world is to be the organ of civilization and inter- national good-will, absolute truth and sympathetic comprehension must take the place of the easier methods of partisanship and vitu- peration. Otherwise this new insti- tution, scarcely a hundred years old, will be the most malevolent force introduced into civilization. There are three fundamental forces that influence humanity — re- ligion, nationality, the s higgle for existence. All peoples are subject to these forces. The combined strug- gle for existence of the 20,000,000, or 50,000,000 or 100,000,000 peo- ple of a nation intensifies the sense of common interest we call nation- ality. In many peoples religion is a most potent unifying and militant force. Elements in Irish Question All three of these forces, for ex- ample, are to be found in their most intense form at the bottom of the Irish question. Sometimes two of these forces, sometimes all three actuate the nations at war. The problem of public opinion and of the press, which is the great organ of public opinion, is to secure the co-operation of these forces interna- tionally and not to aid them in mu- tual antagonism as between nations. The undeveloped regions of the world are enormous. Resources, natural stores far in excess of those already in use, lie in reserve. By collective effort among the nations nature can be subjected and untold wealth created. To bring about such friendly division of the "stakes of diplomacy" should be the aim of all who can influence the trend of world opinion. This does not mean that a news- paper should cease to criticise or disapprove the acts or policies of any nation when justice or the dic- tates of humanity are ignored. It means that the fundamental aim of the editor should be, in interna- tional affairs, to advance co-opera- tion among nations — "Through the ages one increasing pur- pose runs. And the thoughts of men are widened with the process of the suns." —July 3, 1916. TO PERPETUATE HATRED A committee of distinguished French artists recently presented to the French public a project for the erection of monuments on the spots where the Germans are alleged to have committed "atrocities." NATIONALISM AND INTEKNATIONALISM 331 The Morning Post, of London, re- vives a project which it credits to the mind of the late Lord Kitchener, for the exclusion of all Germans from the United Kingdom for twen- ty years after the war. The French proposal is aimed at the perpetuation of the memories of 1914-1916 in France. The Morning Post's project is aimed at the- safe- guarding of Great Britain from Ger- man influences in the period of re- construction that will follow the war. Both of these extraordinary sug- gestions will fail to appeal to the reason of Frenchmen and of Britons. Despite the madness through which the world is now blindly struggling, the soul of mankind is essentially sane. France will wish to forget, not to remember, the rancor which is embittering the blood of its chil- dren now. England will find, not many months after the treaty of peace has been signed, that it has learned important lessons from Ger- man patriotism, German social pre- paredness and German public effi- ciency, which it will wish to adapt to its own needs. To exclude Ger- mans from the United Kingdom for twenty years after the war would be to renounce much that German brains and German energy have contributed to the sum total of the world's achievements. Germany is already trying to forget her "Song of Hate." The great need of England and France and Germany and of all the world after this sickening slaughter will be to substitute sympathy for misunderstanding, sweetness for bit- terness, a sense of brotherhood for the mutual suspicions and intoler- ance which have brought civilization to its present plight. — July 29, 1916. Mexico A REAL AMBASSADOR WHO IS NOT IN THE BLUE BOOK On the third floor of the First National Bank building in El Paso, Tex., there is to be found the real ambassador of northwestern Mexico, so far as the United States is con- cerned. There Seiior Ramos, with telephone connection to Villa's head- quarters, accepts payment from Americans for the privilege of car- rying on their ordinary business activities and for immunities that already are guaranteed by treaties. Somebody always governs, and if the government at Washington ceases to function in regard to for- eign relations, a real and effective government establishes itself, such as we have under the distinguished and courteous Seiior Ramos in El Paso. But while we give good money to enable Gen. Villa to carry on his operations, is it gentlemanly on his part to flood the Kansas City pack- ers with rotten beef? We wonder whether the beef is being canned for export or for do- mestic consumption. Our dispatch from Washington leaves that point uncertain.—^/. 30, 1915. CARRANZA AND MEXICO The Mexican problem has not been solved for the United States by the recognition of the faction headed by Gen. Carranza as the de facto government of Mexico. With Carranza in control of a preponder- ating number of Mexican states in which more than three-quarters of the nation's inhabitants are domi- ciled, it was only logical that the choice of the Pan-American diplo- mats should have fallen upon him instead of Villa, if they were con- vinced that he possessed the "ma- terial and moral capacity necessary to protect the lives of nationals and foreigners." Nor does Gen. Villa's threat to continue his revolt against the Car- ranza government present a particu- larly grave issue for this govern- ment. In the first place Villa's army is cooped up in the northwest corner of Mexico, where his power to do serious damage is greatly re- stricted, and in the second place President Wilson has authority to lay an embargo against the ship- ment of arms from the United States to any Mexican faction which is in revolt against the established gov- ernment. It may be assumed that he will exercise that authority in aid of Gen. Carranza whom he has recognized. But the recognition of a de facto government in Mexico carries with it an obligation on the part of the United States government which presents most serious difficulties, and must be handled with the ut- most delicacy. It is a recognized fact that Gen. Carranza cannot sue- MEXICO 333 cessfully maintain his government or re-establish peace in Mexico with- out financial assistance from the outside. He is in immediate need of many millions of dollars. There is no country to which he can turn for that money except the United States. There are two conditions under which American bankers will fur- nish money to Carranza. One group of financiers in this country would be only too willing to supply Car- ranza with all the money he needs for . the immediate success of his government, in return for the privi- lege of exploiting the vast natural resources of Mexico. The value of the mineral, oil and timber conces- sions, to say nothing of the agri- cultural lands, which Carranza has it in his power to give to these financiers in return for their money would recoup them a thousandfold — maybe ten thousandfold — for every dollar they gave him, but it would be stealing the money from the Mexican people who fought and bled to overthrow the reign of Huerta and those others of his party who were exploiting them. The second condition under which American financiers could be in- duced to furnish money to Carranza would be that the United States government should stand behind their loan with a guarantee of an honest administration of Mexican finances. The administration must give assurances that it will main- tain, by force if necessary, the sta- bility of the new Mexican govern- ment, and more than that, it must guarantee the purchasers of Mexican bonds against "graft." This is a very serious difficulty and one to which the President and his advisers must address their at- tention immediately. Failure to solve this problem can only mean a continuance of the intolerable Mex- ican situation. — Oct. 11, 1915. OUR OWN BALKANS For many, many years it would be rumored every spring that war would break out in the Balkans. Southeastern Europe is a legacy of the great Mohammedan invasion. It has long been regarded as the pow- der magazine of Europe. It has so proved to be. Between the Eio Grande and the Panama canal are our Balkans. The control and development of this re- gion will be settled within ten years. If the United States immediately, with force and justice, organizes these helpless peoples, it will be set- tled in accordance with the inter- ests of justice and to the mutual well-being of the nations of North America. Failing such a settlement, many years will not pass before other na- tions — Japan, Germany or England — will undertake such a settlement, and the southern part of this great continent may witness wars arising from rivalries of the great nations. The wealth of Mexico will be coveted by the impoverished nations of Europe.— Oct. 12, 1915. OUR NEIGHBOR MEXICO The recognition of Carranza does not allay our anxiety regarding fu- ture relations between this country and Mexico. The permanent estab- lishment of the military power of Carranza does not come as the cul- mination of our policy. It repre- 334 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS sents rather the abandonment of the ideals which we sought to further by "watchful waiting." It was the hope of the President that there would arise in Mexico a govern- ment representative of all the peo- ple founded upon democratic prin- ciples, a government that would favor the peasant farmer rather than the land-owning and franchise-seek- ing classes. The President's appeal was disinterested and was based upon the highest humanitarian grounds. Probably no great nation ever spoke with nobler motives to a neighbor in distress than has the United States to Mexico, through President Wil- son. But his words have been un- heeded. Our power and the peculiar cir- cumstances should have made the United States almost a determining factor, yet we have not succeeded in guiding the course of events along the lines of our policy. We have attempted to solve internation- al problems solely on the grounds of moral and ethical appeal, and we have been unwilling to throw the -weight of our arms into the scales. Part of the difficulty may be charged against this method. The hard fact, unpleasant for us all to recognize, as that armed force cannot be dis- pensed with. To establish right, might is still necessary. Possibly also the problem was further complicated through mis- conception regarding the scope of democratic organization. Number and majority opinion will not solve all problems. A backward people like Mexico need outside influence. They need the leadership and or- ganizing ability that would have come with foreign capital. Mexico contains vast natural wealth. Its mountains are filled with mines. Some of the finest timber in North America is there. There are vast areas that seem to have been created for cattle raising and intensive agriculture. But the methods and tools of the Mexican are those of generations ago. If these potential riches are to be tapped for the benefit both of Mex- icans and foreigners the rights of American capital and American leaders who went in to develop that country need to be protected. Such protection would be in the interests of the Mexican people themselves, for they are 'still too undeveloped to furnish their own leadership. They are still too poor to avail themselves of the natural treasures of their mountains and their water power and their fer- tile soil. They are still unable to prevent franchise grabbing and to curb foreign capital. Mexico lies between us and the Panama canal. Our trade with Panama is developing; our influence in the Pacific is growing. Thus the defense of the Panama canal against hostile aggression is an increasingly serious problem. A friendly Mex- ican government that would throw its lot with us in case of conflict would enable us to keep an open line of railroads for the defense of the canal, and this one fact would al- most double the naval strength of the United States. The Carranza government has manifested a strong antipathy to American influence. Will this tendency crystallize into a definite policy of aloofness from the interests of the United States, will it lead to a government likely to enter into friendly relations or treaties with foreign powers which some day may imperil American defense ? MEXICO 335 The mutual understanding and trust that exists between this coun- try and Canada is an instance of how much friendly relations with a neighboring power mean to every nation. Three thousand miles of unde- fended Canadian boundary line tell the story. Can we look to the south with the same feeling of security? There the scene is in striking con- trast. Rangers and soldiers watch for raiding parties and the air is filled with rumors of wild plans to invade our territory. We have made Canada realize that her interests run parallel to ours. In Mexico only distrust, sus- picion or contempt, bred by misun- derstanding, has greeted our ex- tended hand. Perhaps the recognition of C'ar- ranza will change all this. Possibly it will plant in Mexico the seed that has taken such deep root along the friendly Canadian border. But unless recognition of Car- ranza marks the beginning of a last- ing friendship between the United States and Mexico — a new era of co-operation — then the action of this government has merely added another factor to the bewildering problem.— Oct. 12, 1915. A NATION OF PEOPLE, NOT OF STATES We have found a new use for the army — it is to be shot at, but not to shoot. That, at least, is the pitiable plight of the regiments sta- tioned along the Texas border line. They are presumed to represent the national government at Washing- ton — to typify its sovereignty, power and purpose. Just the oppo- site, however, is the fact. They haven't even the protecting power of a policeman pounding the side- walks of New York. A constable in any of the villages along the border line has a more secure feeling that he will be backed up by his supe- riors if he pulls a six-shooter on those who seek his life or the lives of others than a United States sol- dier has should he do the same righteous thing. In his dispatches to this paper from Brownsville, Mr. McClure has vividly portrayed the humiliating position of our troops there, and the insolent attitude of Mexican border-line ruffians who, knowing the shackles put upon our men by tradition and by red tape at Wash- ington, pay not the slightest heed to them. Here is an incident related by Mr. . McClure that illustrates the situa- tion: "This train (within six miles of Brownsville) was wrecked by a group of Mexican bandits about 10 :30 at night on the American side of the line. They entered the train and found there three young American soldiers in uniform, but unarmed. They at once shot them, killing one. The American soldiers were the first object of attack ; and the bandits took little loot." No other government in the world would tolerate without violent pro- test the killing of men wearing its uniform, yet no word of objection has gone out from Washington as the result of this incident and many others of like character. We have placed thousands of our soldiers along the border line, in ineffective groups, to be shot at and jeered at, but not to reply by shot or word unless the country is invaded by a hostile army. In that event our men 336 THE GKAVEST 366 DAYS are permitted to resist — if they are not too humiliated and dispirited by official restrictions to have any re- sisting force left in them. The whole situation has a comic opera flavor to it, as Mr. McClure explains, but he also points out its serious phase. Our national gov- ernment has no right to use federal troops within state borders unless so requested by the governor of the state or to repel foreign invasion. The governor of Texas has made no request to have federal soldiers posted on the border line. Local sentiment is against having them there. The Washington authorities have compromised the matter by sending our soldiers there on "peaceful mission." They are not to shoot, to resist, or to do anything that may annoy. Seeing, they are not to see; hearing, they are not to hear. They are strung along the border like so many helplessly blind and deaf men. Our government cannot go on en- feebling its authority in this way without ultimately bringing it into contempt. The national sovereignty must assert itself. The old states' rights doctrine has become obsolete in every phase of our national life except in governmental theories and practice. It must be abandoned there, if we are to have the strength and dignity of national unity in the eyes of the world. Indeed, it must be abandoned unless we are to countenance an inherent and fun- damental weakness for which we must some time pay dearly. Grover Cleveland, though brought up in the party of states' rights, had the courage to strike the first blow in protest against the outworn the- ory that the federal government must stand by idly while a weak state government fails to protect life and property. As President, in 1892, he did not hesitate to send troops to quell the Debs strike riot in Illinois over the protest of the governor of the state. He was roundly denounced at the time, but no one now questions the wisdom of his act, or its far-reaching con- sequence. It was an exhibition of real statesmanship — the kind that points a nation's eyes and thoughts on its future. President Cleveland visioned the need of our government to unify its power from ocean to ocean — to na- tionalize our states. To use his own phrase, a condition, not a the- ory, confronted him. He met the condition by abandoning the the- ory. It was a radical step for the first Democratic President since the Civil War to take, but it stands out to-day as a precedent that will be- come historic. He might have com- promised, as President Wilson did in Colorado last year, and as both Taft and Wilson did in Texas when federal troops were first sent there. Had he done so he would have had our soldiers shot at and jeered at in Chicago as they are now on the Mexican border. As it was, he set- tled the strike. It was his job to put the United States mails through Illinois, and he did it. What kind of a job is being done on the Texas border? It seems all muddled now. Fortunately, no serious conse- quence has yet followed the sending of our shackled army to the Texas border. The experience there, how- ever, even though it has not been dearly bought, should drive home to us the fact that the sates' rights doctrine is of the past. In the evo- lution of government it has failed MEXICO 337 to hold its place. We are not a con- federacy of states. We are a nation. If we are to survive as such we must have an assert a nation's power. — Oct. 30, 1915. ONLY ANOTHER GRINGO The torture and murder in Mex- ico of Joseph W. Tays, an American citizen, possibly will not arouse the interest that such a crime would have aroused years ago. We have been getting used to that sort of thing. The murder of an American, whether in Mexico or near the Mex- ican border, has come to be accepted merely as the regrettable loss of a human life, not an occurrence to rouse the dignity of this nation. Mexico has made us get used to it, and she has grinned during the process. When an American is mur- dered "bandits did it/' is the expla- nation, if any explanation is made. Nations which offend us have come to yawn over the carefully phrased remonstrances issued by our State department. There have been times when that department was headed by men so cunning that they could make strong words sound as if something was behind them. Now, no matter who may be presi- dent or secretary of state, the re- sult is the same. Our weaknesses are known. We are not ready. Some day, if our preparedness shall have become real, the veriest dummy may sit in the chair of Jef- ferson and Bayard and Hay and make nations listen respectfully. But until then statesmanship seems to be as useless as the bleat of a lamb.— Nov. 17, 1915. FOR SQUARE DEAL IN MEXICO To the Editor of "The Evening Mail": Sir. — It is difficult to estimate the full value to our American pub- lic of Editor McClure's articles from the front (Eio Grande). No one had thought this volcanic region was worthy of particular attention in the presence of the European war. Your editor is now exposing the ne- farious workings of the extreme anarchistic element in Mexico, com- bined with the same in the United States, under a programme of vio- lence which already has cost us not only the lives of soldiers and civ- ilians, but also our prestige as a na- tion that can and will defend itself. At the same time that we hope Mexico and all the other Latin- American republics will always con- sider us their best friend, we cer- tainly must make it clear that hon- esty and fair treatment should be reciprocal, and that when attacked without cause we will always be ready to defend ourselves. One of the most serious problems now coming up relates to the "guar- antees" which peaceful Americans are to have when doinar business in CD Mexico, in the near future. What is going to convince the ten or fifteen million Mexicans that the American citizen has rights which everybody is bound to respect, abroad as well as at home? A great deal is heard of Belgian, Polish and other refugees, but I do not know of a more pitiful outlook than that of 25,000 to 50,000 American refugees who must now return to Mexico to be surrounded by a relatively hostile people, or starve in the United States. I refer especially to those 338 THE GBAVEST 366 DAYS Americans who, some three or four years ago, had farms, homes, land or other permanent business in Mex- ico, and, whose means being ex- hausted, must return to that coun- try to restore their homes and their broken fortunes, with inadequate protection and with little hope of quick betterment. Chandler. Kansas City, Kan., Nov. 6. — Nov. 19, 1915. GIVING CARRANZA A CHANCE There is hope for Mexico in the decision of Villa to abandon the field and seek asylum in the United States. The collapse of the Villista movement will give Carranza, the recognized head of the de facto gov- ernment of the country, an oppor- tunity to demonstrate his capacity for the work which lies before him. It is a labor of vast magniture. Civilization has been destroyed in Mexico by the internecine war of the past three years. It must be built up again from the foundations. Upon Carranza's breadth of mind, his freedom from selfish motives and his devotion to the welfare of a much-harried people will depend the outcome of the reconstruction activities which are now about to begin. Has Carranza these qualities, without which the successful solu- tion of the difficult problem is im- possible? If he has not, the reign of chaos will return without long delay.— Dec. 21, 1915. CHAOS AGAIN IN MEXICO Sixteen American citizens have been massacred in Mexico; chaos has returned to that much-tortured republic. Once more the turmoil across the Rio Grande becomes the issue of the hour, which America must take up with a firm determi- nation to do its duty, not only to itself but to its neighbor. The latest outbreak of inherent barbarism across the border brings America face to face with the reali- zation that Mexico is another Egypt, which has neither the leadership, the popular education nor the cap- ital to lift itself to the plane of modern civilization. It is another Egypt, and will drag on its help- lessness until the United States ad- dresses itself squarely to the task which awaits it there. Without the support of the church, the banished old Spanish aristocracy and foreign capital, Carranza's efforts to build up a stable government must fail. Every other method of restoring or- der having proved futile, the United States now must consider the only remaining alternative — the dispatch of our troops to Mexico City to take to the Mexican people the boon of a stable and organized govern- ment, which it conferred upon the people of Cuba and of the Philip- pines. Let us recognize the facts. Our next door neighbor to the south is in a condition of hopeless political and social anarchy. The unrest and disturbance in Mexico across the border affects the United States. A large number of Mexicans have set- tled as workers in Texas and the ad- joining country, and lawlessness in their home republic promotes law- lessness on our side of the border. Many Americans have gone into Mexico to make investments. As owners of ranches they have carried into that country better methods of MEXICO 339 cattle raising and have developed the agricultural resources of the country for products needed here. The mines of Mexico contain min- erals and the mountainsides lumber that the United States and the world as a whole need for their commerce and industry. The Mexi- can people require railroads. All these great industrial enterprises necessitate the use of capital, and the Americans and other foreigners who have gone there as capitalists have carried out a function not only of benefit to the Mexican people but of benefit to us in the United States and to the world at large. They call for our protection. For years they have been calling for the protection of our flag and they have not re- ceived it. Not only our own citizens but foreign countries look to us for the protection of their nationals in Mex- ico. When Benton, an Englishman, was killed, and yesterday, when an- other British subject lost his life, the matter was left to the govern- ment at Washington because the Monroe Doctrine implies that the maintenance of an orderly govern- ment on this continent must be left to the Americans themselves. Hold- ing foreign countries at a distance, we assume a responsibility which we cannot evade by inaction. Let us recognize the facts : the future of Mexico is bound up inextricably with our own foreign relations. Turmoil and disorder there create problems that will become increas- ingly serious, and which may event- ually involve us in disagreement with European countries. Let us recognize the fact that of the 14,000,000 of Mexican popula- tion 12,000,000 are wholly or partly of Indian blood. There are cen- turies, whole stages of civilization, between their outlook, the simple tools which they are accustomed to use, the views of life to which they are trained, and our modern organ- ization that implies steam engines and railroads and universal educa- tion. They need leadership; They need the direction and the civilizing in- fluence of the white man's institu- tions. Let us recognize that their or- ganized religion, dating back to the pioneer days when America was dis- covered, is a factor that should be drawn into the constructive sup- port of their social life. Let us rec- ognize that the Spanish land-owning aristocracy which is now practically banished from the country, had an important function to perform in organizing the agricultural and in- dustrial activities of that primitive people. Let us recognize that for- eign capital has a legitimate inter- est in the development of the re- sources of that country. Above all, let us recognize that the Mexican government necessarily must have a close relation with the government of the United States. In case we are ever attacked from without it would prove disastrous for us if a foe from across the At- lantic or the Pacific should land its troops in Mexico, compelling us to fight through such a country. There should be an offensive and defensive alliance that would immediately bring Mexico to our side in case of an international struggle. There should be an open railroad con- structed with reference to possible military necessities, extending from Texas to Panama, so that we could defend the canal by both land and sea, with an understanding that should give us the active co-opera- 540 THE GRAYEST 366 DAYS tion of Mexico in such an undertak- ing. Let us recognize these facts and act accordingly. We have made a genuine and high-minded effort to deal with the Mexicans on the basis of placing the ballot in the hands of every Mexi- can. Unaided, he cannot use it. All our efforts to lead Mexico into the light of civilization by friendly guidance have not worked out, are not working out, and will not work out. If we can grasp these realities the murder of sixteen American citizens will not have been in vain. Tan. 13, 1916. HUERTA Huerta is dead. It seems as if Fate, which has not been too kind to him these last months, had re- lented to the extent of letting him die at a moment when we of the United States could reform our judgment of him. What was the "blood-stained dictatorship"' of Huerta as compared with the so- called constitutional government of Mexico to-day? Let us admit that Huerta was a man of blood. Fortunately for the citizens of the United States who were in Mexico during his regime, he was also a man of iron. Call it war or call it murder, the bloodshed of his day was confined to Mexico and the Mexicans — except when we sailed into Yera Cruz and sailed out again without getting the demanded salute. Huerta was a relic of the old Mexico, the Mexico of Diaz, of the Spanish civilization, of the ancient respect for the religion that had guided Mexico through the centu- ries. So far as American rights and opinion are concerned, is the new ••government" of Mexico to be pre- ferred to that old rule? How many Americans are there to-day who do not regret that we muddled into Mexico to enforce certain puritani- cal theories that had no relation to the real national life of that Latin state? Huerta was an Indian. He un- derstood the twelve millions of In- dians that somehow managed to live under the old rule, while our own Indians died under our own beneficient misrule. He was a sol- dier, bred in the trade from child- hood, and learning from his mas- ters how strong a hand must be kept to keep Mexico alive. He had this strong hand and he used it, perhaps not exactly as it should have been tised, but as strong hands are likely to be used when there is am- bition in the brain. It was Huerta's misfortune that he came to the top at a time when some one in the United States sud- denly decided that we must be the keeper of Mexico's political con- science. For Madero to overthrow Diaz was right, according to our new notion, but for Huerta to over- throw Madero was wrong, because there was a "constitution." "We shook with horror because Madero was killed, for that is not our way, and we decided that it must not be the Mexican way, although it had been the Mexican way for centuries. And now Huerta is dead. To the very end, we imagine, he saw Mex- ico as he had seen it from his chil- hood, a place where internal blood must flow when necessity requires. Undoubtedly he thought of the United States as a country which had mistreated him, because he had never set out to do it a wrong, and MEXICO 341 which had kept him to die a pris- oner. He died uttering forgiveness of his enemies, another ancient habit of his ancient kind. "Mexico needs a strong man." That has been our cry since the day of Porfiro Diaz. Well, it had a strong man, if that was all it needed, and he lies in a coffin at El Paso. Ilucrta is dead ! The constitu- tion of Mexico lives ! And under its twentieth century administration the blood of "protected" Yankees soaks into the red hillsides of Chi- huahua. — Jan. 14, 1916. BARS OF GOLD AND SOAP A new government — as govern- ments go in that wretched country — takes the reins in Mexico. The monetary system of the world is sen- sitive in the matter of fly-by-night governments. The people of Mexico find that their silver and paper, par- ticularly the latter, are not accept- ed in the outer world at their face value. Business men who ship stuff from the United States and Europe to Mexico want their pay in gold or on a gold basis. Carranza may en- grave a piece of paper with the dec- laration that it is a dollar, and make the peon take it as such, but he can- not treat foreign trade in the same way. Typhus breaks out in Mexico City — the same terrible disease that has racked the world under the names of ship fever, camp fever and prison fever; a disease which has kept its hold on parts of Mexico for centuries because of unsanitary conditions. The fever is horrible, not only in its fatality, but in its method of con- tagion, being carried by vermin. An epidemic of typhus can be stopped only by absolute cleanliness. Mexico has depended upon other nations for soap and towels. Now she cannot import these without paying gold for them. The peon, who is paid, not in gold but in Mexi- can money, cannot buy a bar of soap and a yard of cotton or linen cloth for less than a day's pay. So typhus has been carried from Mexico City to the Rio Grande and across into American towns which have a large Mexican population. The possibilty of the spread of the disease to congested American cities is not pleasant, but it is real. Americans like to boast of their per- sonal cleanliness, yet one-half the population of New York, for in- stance, is not so regularly clean but that typhus might obtain a foothold here. Of course, the doctors of the Rockefeller institute have found a serum for typhus, but the surest way of avoiding the disease lies in soap and water and kerosene. The actual and rapid progress of typhus from the Mexican capital into the United States tells a story of the smallness of the world and the in- terdependence of nations. We re- fuse — perhaps rightly — the paper dollar with which the peon would buy Yankee soap and towels. So he remains dirty and infected, and his disease marches north, invades our own land and kills our own people. Humanity is bound together by ties which the financiers, the states- men and the geographers cannot cut.— Feb. 23, 191(5. FAILURES OF CARRANZA The Mexican problem in its pres- ent phase is largely the bequest of 342 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS the Taft administration to its sue- honor. The people are not in ac- cessor. Mr. Taft relied upon the cord with the Carranza government, power of the United States, exerted and never will be. through the recognition or non- There is discord among the lead- recognition of this or that faction ers, both military and civil, and or chief, to hasten the ending of the there is no hand among them strong chronic reign of anarchy in the enough to bring order and security neighboring republic. Mr. Wilson throughout the country. Sooner or continued the policy of his predeces- later this government will have to sor. He picked Carranza as the do it. It is folly to assume that most likely of the contending chiefs Villa is eliminated. On the contrary to evolve order out of chaos, and the fact remains that he is even accorded his recognition to him. now at the head of a considerable It was undoubtedly the idea of body of well armed and equipped the administration that its recogni- cavalry forces, and its numbers are tion of Carranza would solidify his constantly increasing, largely from party, enable him to establish a rea- deserters from the crumbling Car- sonably safe government and cause ranza forces, disgusted by the in- the dismemberment of other fac- ability of Carranza to pay them in tions and their final extermination, acceptable money. It is true that The de facto government has re- Villa possesses but little statesman- ceived, and is still receiving, many ship, and is unsuited to govern a extraordinary favors from the ad- country. Nevertheless, he is abste- ministration, which have exerted but mious, he is skilled in certain kinds little actual influence on the situa- of warfare, in this instance marvel- tion, and all of which have been ig- ously effective, and he is above all nored or ill requited by the first ambitious and vengeful. The oppor- chief and his followers, and the ex- tunity for his effectual elimination pectation that other revolutionary is past and he will again loom large bands and factions would lay down in shaping affairs. With Obregon their arms and become peaceful cit- practically a prisoner at Carranza's izens has been wholly abortive. headquarters, there is no efficient On the contrary, many more leader to oppose him. bands exist than formerly, who are Carranza has not justified the ex- lacking in military discipline and pectations of the administration at control and who are as mobile as a Washington. He has proved that bunch of butterflies and as danger- he lacks the constructive qualities ous as rattlesnakes. and the intelligence which would Carranza's officials have not ac- have enabled him to meet the benev- quitted themselves creditably and olent wishes of the United States, have not inspired confidence. They In order to establish a stable have permitted many needless abuses government, Carranza must have to occur and have condoned them, money and credit. He has neither. His generals have been, and are, In order to govern satisfactorily the rapacious and have enriched them- territory under his de facto author- selves at the expense of their ity, he must have loyal and compe- soldiers and the people and not in- tent officials, civil and military. He frequently at the sacrifice of their has no such officials. He must have MEXICO 343 the confidence of the people. But he has not won that confidence and is not winning it, as is demonstrated conclusively by his continued re- fusal to return to the capital and establish himself there. As 95 per cent, of the Mexican people are Catholics, he must not antagonize the church, and must rally the relig- ious and moral forces of the nation on the side of a comprehensive pro- gramme of pacification and recon- struction. This harmonizing mis- sion he is not accomplishing — and without such a unification of relig- ious and moral forces the setting up of an effective administration is im- possible. In all these respects Carranza has failed conspicuously, and the United States, with all the good will in the world, cannot supply these founda- tions for a government in Mexico. — March 8, 1916. EXPOSED The true connection between the German government and the infa- mous bandit Villa has been gradual- ly coming to light. It has been the impression that Villa financed him- self primarily from levies upon Americans and American property in his section of Mexico. It has been the popular delusion that he carried out his diabolical raid on Columbus for the purpose of sting- ing the United States into retalia- tion and relaunching his wretched cause upon the tide of Mexican na- tional resistance. Nothing can be further from the truth. Germany is back of his finances and his raids. The proof is absolute and convincing. This proof is in the nature of evidence which at first view looks innocent, but grows in damning cer- tainty the longer one ponders it. Villa is the German name for House. This fact is simple in it- self. It is the connotation that forges the chain of evidence. Col. House has been in Germany. His connection with German villas may be considered established by the ill- suppressed accounts of his enter- tainment by prominent German per- sonalities, whose pro-German sym- pathies are certified by secret docu- ments now in the hands of the au- thorities at Washington. The net begins to close. Col. House, after association with Ger- man villas, returns to the land to which he should owe allegiance and presents a front of virgin American- ism. In no public interview does House mention the German villas which harbored him. Every one is thrown off the scent. Shortly after the return of House his secretary is known to have written and mailed certain letters. They were mailed at night. A few weeks later the Mexican Villa (Ger- man for House) bursts forth. To disarm suspicion he even shoots up a number of houses in Columbus, N. M. Villa-House- Villa is the key to the Mexican situation. The time has come to stop all this German propaganda. The Mail is proud to be able to deal it a final and crushing blow. — March 8, 1916. VILLA Pancho Villa's violation of Amer- ican soil and his onslaught upon American lives and property left only one course open to our govern- ment. That course President Wil- 344 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS son has adopted. The pursuit and capture or destruction of this wanton butcher is the imperative duty of the administration at Wash- ington. That duty will be carried out with energy and dispatch by Gen. Funston, who knows his Mex- ico — and his Pancho Villa. Mexico, no less than the United States, needs to be rid of Villa. The renegade Indian who has taken sixteen American lives for no other reason than a mad desire to show the Gringoes what he could do, has forfeited his right to con- sideration. He has outlawed him- self and his followers. He has written and signed his own death warrant. It only remains to carry it into effect. The President may rest assured that he will have the unqualified sanction of a unani- mous public opinion in whatever measures he may undertake to ac- complish that result. But the dispatch of a punitive expedition to eliminate Villa and his fellow cut-throats does not mean, at the outset at least, active Ameri- can intervention in Mexican affairs and the assumption by the admin- istration at Washington of respons- ibility for the restoration of peace and order south of the Rio Grande. If such an intervention is thrust upon the American people it will be the result of circumstances over which the American people and their government have had no con- trol. The President has unswerv- ingly maintained toward Mexico an attitude of disinterested sympathy. He has been animated solely by a desire to aid to the limit of his powers in the establishment of a stable government — a government by the Mexican people. — March 11, 1916. THE SOUL OF MEXICO Mexico has not yet had her Rob- ert Service; but that great, big broad land way down yonder is worthy of the song of some rugged poet who will tell us with electric vividness about the strange spell that the land of Montezuma casts over all who come to make it their home. There is a deep well-spring un- der a yellow and blue-tiled chapel near Mexico City. It is called the well of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico's patron saint. The legend has it that whoso shall drink of its waters shall thirst again, and how- ever far he may stray into the world the waters of Guadalupe will call him back, and return he must to drink again. Ask any man or woman who has lived long in Mexico if they do not feel a strong pull at their hearts sometimes to go back. And when they answer "Yes !" ask them why. They may begin to tell you of the wonderful climate of the central plateau. They may talk of the cool- warm sunshine filtering through the rarefied air of the highlands. They may declare that only Mr. Service could describe "the forests where silence has lease," and "the beauty that thrills one with wonder," and "the stillness that fills one with peace." For down there, too, "the mighty mountains bare their fangs unto the moon," and all the physical grandeur in the world seems packed into some of those marvelous com- binations of valley and foothill and mountain and plain. But there is something more than her physical charm, something more subtle than the thirst for the waters of Guada- lupe that makes the exile from Mex- MEXICO 345 ico feel with the poet of the Yukon that : "There's a land — oh, it beckons and beckons, And I want to go back — and I will !" Most foreigners who have lived in Mexico went there on business, and many of them made fortunes there. Mexico has been a; land of opportunity, and the lure of its sil- ver and copper and gold and rub- ber and government contracts and concessions is strong. But the peo- ple who have felt the spell of Mex- ico will tell you: I wanted the gold and I got it — Came out with a fortune last fall, Yet somehow life's not what I thought it, And somehow the gold isn't all. No ! There's the land, have you seen it? And behind the thought of the land there lies the feeling of having found some of the world's richest treasure, the happy human rela- tionships that grow up out of com- munity life laden with common in- terests and aspirations. The foreign colonies, especially in the larger cities of Mexico, form intimate, close-knit social groups. Every one is known more or less widelv within his national group. There is little anonymous isolation. Men do busi- ness with each other, golf, tennis or play billards together at their Colony Club, while their wives make rounds of social calls and their chil- dren attend the same school. There is leisure for those informal social activities that make for abiding friendships. Time ripens these, and they are kept fresh and green by new and common interests that con- tinually grow up among like-mind- ed people in a foreign land. These are the things one misses hard when he travels away for a season in strange parts. If he tries to dwell in another section of the world again; these are the things that bring that sense of haunting hollow- ness and the restless wanderlust that recall the Canadian poet again — "I've bade 'em good-by, but I can't !" Some there are, too, who have gone through the rare experience of knowing another race. They have made friends with the Mexi- can Indian, simple, naive, respon- sive, tractable and genuinely lov- able to those who learn the secret of meeting and treating him courte- ously, squarely and white. To ride along one of those won- derful canyon trails of the lower Sierra Madre in the moonlight; to listen to the distant, rhythmic tom- tom, tom-tom, tom-tom of a sweetly resonant native drum; to ride a lit- tle farther and begin to catch the primitive cadence of the flute-like reed — tu-lu, tu-tu-lu, tu-tu-lu — end- lessly repeating on through the night, works something into eye's soul that is not easily forgotten. To stop at the lowly, grass-thatched hut and ask for a drink of water and to be offered tortillas, frijoles, goat's milk and a lodging for the night by a smiling aboriginal who, if asked for his unbleached cotton shirt, would offer you his woolen blanket also — is an experience that makes the deeper stuff within us thirst for more. To learn another people by heart, a strange primitive race of men and women and children who seem so integral a part of the vast wonder- land that is their native home, makes one feel rich in the things that moth and rust do not corrupt, nor thieves break in and steal. To feel oneself a part of it all through 346 THE GRAYEST ot>b DAYS the simple exchange of friendly touch and greeting, and then riding awav again into the night — this works into one's finer self an inde- scribahle something that it is hard to travel awav from and lose. The soul of Mexico has mixed for a mo- ment with one's own. and — he wants to go back if he can ! — March 16, 1916. MEXICAN INDEPENDENCE AND THE ARMY Every now and then our news- paper headlines blason forth the re- volt of a Mexican regiment, or a garrison, or a whole army corps. We wonder at the instability of that volatile and amorphous organi- zation down there, but forgive its trespasses because of the chronic anarchy into which the country has fallen. But history teaches us that what is now has been and ever shall he so long as the Mexican army is built of unlettered, under- paid, fear-ridden halfbreeds and Indians, schooled only in the tradi- tions of transient hero-worship and professional revolutionism. In 1810. Miguel Hidalgo, a Cath- olic priest, and his military friend. Allende, started the revolution for Mexican independence from the rule of Spain. Their Indian army was defeated, and they themselves were executed. Morelos. another priest, continued the rebellion, and met a like fate. Then came Augus- tin Iturbide. born in Mexico but of Spanish descent, a man of splendid courage and brilliant military tal- ent, lie joined Guerrero, the only r emaining revolutionary chief, and they warded for Mexican independ- ence under the plan of Iguala. This platform stood for the establish- ment of a limited Mexican mon- archy, the maintenance of the Ro- man Catholic Church, and equality of rights for Spaniards and native- born Mexicans. Apodac, the Span- ish viceroy, refused to recognize this independent Mexico, and was overthrown. The new viceroy, O'lVnoju. who was sent over from Spain, got no farther than Yera Cruz and was compelled to recog- nize Mexican independence. A provisional junta issued a for- mal declaration of independence and nominated a regency of five, with Iturbide as president, to rule the nation. Then Iturbide con- vened the first Mexican Congress on February 84, 1822. This Con- gress debated making Mexico a re- public, or a monarchy with Iturbide as emperor, or a monarchy to be ruled by a prince of the house of Bourbon. The army worshiped Iturbide as a hero and backed him for emperor, so Congress elected him, and he was crowned on dulv 01. is-. 1 -:. Then Santa Ana. captain-general of Yera Cruz, declared a republic under the plan of Iguala and start- ed a new revolution. He was de- feated, but the emperor's army was ready for a change of heroes. Itur- bide was deserted by the very sol- diers who had shouted at his coro- nation only a few months before, delivered into the hands of Con- gress, forced to abdicate, and sent to Italy in exile on a pension for his services in behalf of Mexican independence. Later he returned to Mexico, but was outlawed, captured and shot before he could reach the capital or appeal to Congress. And so. from the founding of in- dependent Mexico by Iturbide in MEXICO 347 1822 to our present day, the Mexi- can army lias been a dangerous and explosive Frankenstein, turning with every shift of the wind and even with the little breezes of revolution- ary intrigue. But can we blame it? Built of illiterate, tradition-fed wor- shipers of the nearest immediate hero, ruled by the tyranny of offi- cers' swords, half starved, and sav- age at heart (even as you and I), we can easily forgive them — for they know not what they do. — March 17, 1916. CARRANZA'S ARMY Under Porfirio Diaz the Mexican army became a large, effective police force. Early in his rule the soldiers were active in keeping bandits away from villages and plantations, watch- ing telegraph lines and railway switches and guarding stage coach and passenger train. Later, with the habit of national order fairly well established, the army lived inactively in garrison barracks and degenerat- ed. When Francisco Madero re- volted, Gen. Diaz found his once splendid organization was a broken reed, and he departed for Europe. Madero, five months before his assassination, told his Congress: If a government like mine, placed in power by the unanimous vote of the people and that has done all in its power for the good of that people, cannot exist in Mexico, then, gentlemen, we must say to the people of Mexico that they are not fit for democracy, and that we need another dictator who will come with his sword drawn to frustate the ambitions of those who do not understand that lib- erty can only bear fruit within a system of law and order. A month later Madero asked Con- gress to authorize compulsory mili- tary service. He saw clearly that only backed by the power of a well- organized internal police force could any government endure in Mexico. Carranza found this true. He doubtless realizes that only while the army is with him can he endure. But this army of his is not a unit. It is an agglomerate of petty chieftains, each with his individual following and each with his personal ambition to be "first chief." So long as these assorted "generals" can live in the houses of expatriated victims of mob rule in Mexico City; so long as they can enjoy ministerial titles and big pay; so long as their followers are given wartime wages or allowed to loot a village or two when the pay- master's roll is small; so long and no longer will Carranza have the support of the Mexican army and re- main First Chief of the nation. It is doubtful if there exists in Mexico to-day the organizing intelli- gence and military ability necessary for the reconstruction of the army as a working unit. It is possible that this intelligence and ability lies latent in that large body of exiled Mexicans who are watching the slow suicide of their country from apart- ments in Paris, Madrid and New York. It may be that the Mexican anarchy will, like the French Revo- lution, sicken of itself and call for the kind of leadership which alone can save an unenlightened and cruel- ly exploited people from its own madness. If so, it is this element of intelligence, of sympathy with fun- damental Mexican problems, and of potential leadership that deserves our moral support, and may need our active co-operation. — March 21, 1916. 348 THE GBAVEST 366 DAYS AND WHAT OF THE POOR PEON? The Mexican people are quick to see through the thin vaneer of patriotism and high-sounding talk that glosses the shameless ravaging of their country by the various tribes of revolutionaries. Carranza's sol- diers, who call themselves "Constitu- tionalistas," have been quickly and aptly nicknamed "Con-las-unas-list- as," which, being interpreted, means "with fingernails sharpened and ready." They are judged by their actions more than by their verbal justifications. Concrete cases? A page might be filled with such examples as the following, and it would present a fair picture of the agricultural re- gions of the zone comprising the states of Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, San Luis Potosi, a good share of Coahuila, Chihuahua and Tampico. That the same thing has been true in Morelos and parts of Pueblo and Vera Cruz, where Zapatismo has flourished is already well known. A prosperous hacienda gave em- ployment to one hundred and fifty families. These people were as happy and as well fed and as content with their lot as a primitive people, just emerging from centuries of barbar- ism, can be. Their children went to the little plantation school and were sure of having enough to eat at sup- per time. The work of the people was directed and controlled by an in- telligent owner who did not meddle with politics. Came a Constitutionalist chieftain en route somewhere to fight some- body. The plantation was made his headquarters. The horses were seized for his men. The cattle were butch- ered for them or sold in the nearest market. Corn and provisions were confiscated ''for the army of Mexican liberty." The machinery, tools, ag- ricultural implements, in fact, every- thing of marketable value were sold out in behalf of the revolutionary exchequer. The chief then pro- ceeded to another camping place. The peons of the hacienda were told that thus the revolution was accomplishing its great purpose, the distribution of the land. The owner had paid the penalty for having robbed and exploited the land of the Indian, who might now return and possess it in peace. And the poor peons stood in open-mouthed won- der, watching the last horseman ride away with the last bag of frijoles slung over his stolen saddle. Multi- ply this picture by a hundred ! But they had the land! At last the oppressed, the exploited aborig- inal race was having its innings, and justice smiled beneath her bandaged eyes. True, but what the peon is asking himself after such revolution- ary escapades in the name of free- dom and democracy is : "What doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world of land and be left not even a shovel for the digging of his own grave in that land, and graves for his little children?"— March 23, 1916. A BRIDGE OF UNDER- STANDING An American planter in Mexico, a man of sterling character who had grown up among the Mexican people and who understood and loved them, tried an experiment not long ago. He was to leave Mexico for a three years" stay in Europe. Calling his peasant workmen together, he gave MEXICO 349 them each three acres of good sugar pliable tractability of the Indian, land. He told them to cultivate it, and his willingness to work for a and said that their cane might be living if work were provided. They ground in his mill at cost, and that recognized the native's value and his they might have all they could make need of help. They respected his from their crop. He promised them traditions and in colonial times up- a big barbecue on his return if they held the integrity of his villages, should have made good on the land where he lived a communal life un- during his absence. der a paternal system that suited his In three years he returned. He simple needs. They endeavored to found the land he had given to the protect him against the very evils peons under full cultivation and his that came over in their train, and mill grinding the cane. But the In- the fact that those whom they ap- dians did .not turn up for the barbe- pointed to be "guardians of the In- cue! They had planted and culti- gian" were corrupted and helped vated somewhat of their land the exploit their charges, is hardly to be first year, but the second year they laid against these Spanish leaders, had so neglected it that the admin- So grateful were the Indians for the istrator had to plow it over to save fairness with which the Spanish gov- it from the encroachment of the erning class treated them that, in the jungle. The third year, in order to state of Oaxaca, certain of their free save the land, he had been compelled villages still keep up their payment to place it under cultivation with of colonial tribute regularly, punc- the rest of the hacienda. tually and gladly, as part of one of The peons were called together their ingrained traditions, and asked why they had not appre- There have been exploitations and ciated the gift and the opportunity oppressions of the natives in Mexico, to make a small fortune for them- Crimes have been committed against selves. Each looked at the other in individual Indians and against the silence, until an old man finally Indian as a race. The system of crystallized the situation in words government that worked itself out that characterize the mental attitude and flowered in the Diaz regime was of several million natives of his far from perfect. But the solid body kind: of white men, intelligent Spanish- "We do not like to plant sugar, Mexicans, that forms the only hope senor, for what we may gain at the for the salvation of our neighbor end of a season. We work to get land if it is to keep its sovereignty, paid every week/' cannot be accused of anything worse That is the mind of aboriginal than a growing sense of contentment Mexico. That is the human stuff with conditions as they were, and a with which civilization has to deal, failure to awaken in time to the seri- That is the material out of which ousness of the problems that had the Spaniard started to form the be- been growing up in their midst, ginnings of a new nation. That is A few years before the Madero re- the people whom the Spaniard lib- bellion they had begun to realize erated from the rule of Spain and what the agrarian problem meant, has tried to control and direct. and had appropriated, through Con- These Spaniards recognized the gress, some $90,000,000 (pesos) for 350 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS the irrigation and reclamation of Mexican land for the benefit of the people. They had discovered that hunger, not so much for education and liberty but for corn and beans, was the vital question of the day, and they realized that corn and beans for a country so agriculturally poor as Mexico meant constructive states- manship and the wise employment of large capital. The revolution wrecked the struc- ture they had begun to build, and the following riot of anarchy, result- ing in the exile of so many of their number, galvanized them into newer and fresher habits of thought. They had been sleeping too long and awakened too late, but they have sud- denly realized keenly: That old stars fade and alien planets arise, That the sere bush fades, and the desert blooms, And the ancient well-head dries, and that there are new compasses wherewith new men adventure be- neath new skies. Some of them have died, broken hearted in their exile over the trag- edy of Mexico, like Porfirio Diaz and Joaquin Cassasus. Others have re- signed themselves to a stunned pes- simism regarding the future of their native land. But most of them who have "seen the things they gave their lives to be broken" stand ready to stoop and build them up again with worn-out tools." They have, to let Kipling speak for them further, "made one heap of all their win- nings, and risked it on a turn of pitch and toss," but, losing, they want to "start again at their begin- nings and never breathe a word about their loss." And it is for us to help them. Our President has told us that "We shall « deem it our duty to help the Mexi- can people." Here lies our practi- cal chance. We cannot deal directly with the aboriginal Indian. We do not understand him and he does not comprehend us. Our Puritan fathers did not understand the red man. Calling this God's land and them- selves the chosen people of God, they drove him harshly westward, leaving a trail of blood. William Penn and his followers did not understand the Indian and pushed him backward, much more gently and with kindly treatment, to be sure, but none the less effectively. Our North Ameri- can Indian is a vanishing race. We have chosen to exterminate him in- stead of utilizing his energies, be- cause that was the easiest way to rid ourselves of the Indian problem. But if "our passion is for the 85 per cent, of the people of Mexico who are struggling for liberty," we must rec- ognize that because of their treat- ment by the Spaniards they have in- creased and multiplied and must be shouldered as a white's man burden. And we need a bridge of understand- ing between us and this primitive people. Let us build it of the ele- ments at hand. Intelligent, chastened Spanish- Mexico, white men, Aryans like our- selves, jolted into a new set of men- tal habits, a new sense of responsi- bility toward their sadly wrecked nation, and a new desire to serve in its reconstruction, stands anxiously awaiting the opportunity to co- operate with us in "our duty to help the Mexican people." This 'is the Mexico that, together with the vast bulk of the population, lies below the surface din and clashing of revo- lutionary turmoil and wants peace and the planting of corn, the re- building of ruined factories and the MEXICO 351 opening up of mines, that the people may have productive work to do for the daily hire that they want. — March 25, 1916. MEXICAN MOTHERS The Mexican Indian who owns a little strip of ground devotes about one hundred and twenty days each year to the cultivation and harvest- , ing of his corn. If the uncertain rainfall and frequent frosts permit, he may produce enough to feed him- self and his family through the one hundred and eighty-five days during which he does a minimum amount of work. If he is fortunate, he may have a little corn to sell. But at home sits the woman over her stone "metate" grinding, grind- ing, grinding. Before corn can be made into those delicious and nour- ishing disks that the Indian rolls into a cylinder around a core of beans and swallows so amazingly fast, it must be soaked in warm lime water and then ground fine to a doughy paste called "maza." This means hours of unproductive work, time that for centuries has been laid up against the progress of the In- dian as a race. The Mexican mother has been little more than a bearer of children and a very inefficient and expensive grinding machine. In fifteen minutes a small and simple power mill can grind more corn into "maza" than the Indian woman can grind in eight hours of hard, straining work. During the latter days of the Diaz regime the whirr of the power mill was begin- ning to be heard in the land. The superstition about an evil genius that lived in the wheels and cogs of this mysterious foreign engine was melting away and the village women stood in long lines in the morning awaiting their turn at the humming machine. They brought their corn to the mill in hard, yellow kernels and came away with a lump of dough. They brought to the mill fifteen minutes and left it with eight hours of time — eight hours potential liberty and independence. And this freedom was not for the Mexican mother alone. It was part of a real liberation of Mexico. En- ergy was released for productive work in the garden or in the field and in the humble education of chil- dren for other tasks than the grind- ing of corn. With the productive help of his woman the man found more time to learn the simple but vital principles of irrigation and in- tensive cultivation. This the Indian was barely beginning to do. Grad- ually he was learning the value of foreign machinery and foreign tools in terms of net return in corn and beans, but he was learning this un- der a guidance and leadership that was not a product of his native clime. The Indian was led to turn on those who were opening up his coun- try to the inflow of that capital and machinery which could alone redeem his land for him and make available the resources of his forests and mountains. His thanks for the lift- ing of the weight of a stone "metate" from the neck of his women, for the sewing machine which had begun to quadruple the effort of their hands, and the steel plow that replaced his wooden sticks was a cry of "Mueran los Cientificos !" and then, "Mueran los Gringos !" But it was the cry of misguided ignorance and not of in- herent malice. Now he is hungry again. He needs new seed corn and new tools. 552 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS Six years of anarchy have almost taught him that the sowing of bul- lets and the wrecking of mills does not spell the liberty he was led to expeet. A swift, thorough American invasion of Mexico with sacks of corn and wheat instead of powder and shell, followed by the placing in power of men with sufficient vision of the needs of their country to see that credit and capital must precede any real reconstruction, might result in the beginnings of a new Mexico. The attitude of a whole people toward the Gringo might be changed from a contemptuous hatred into a grateful respect. For underneath the ferment of chronic revolution there lies a vast and childlike people of fathers and mothers and children who want only to eat, and to resi and forget. Can we solve the problem of Mexico by imposing upon its unde- veloped natives the ballot which has come as the fruit of twenty centuries of culture and service in Europe? Or do they need the leadership of white men. a government organized so that it will command the con- fidence of American capital, that will bring railroads, engines and mills to grind corn ? Is not seven and three-quarter hours of leisure from the heavy work of grinding more significant to the peon Mexi- can mother than a ballot which her husband cannot understand or use? —March 89, 1916. DOLLARS FOR PENNIES On lower Broadway, between Wall street and Bowling Green, there stand decrepit old men stretching out. handfuls of blue lithographed bills and offering to exchange a dol- lar in Oarranza Constitutionalist cur- rency for one cent of Uncle Som's. How many of us who pass by give a thought to the pitiful tragedy that lies back of this phenomenon? In 1893 the national treasury of Mexico was practically bankrupt. Six per cent. Mexican bonds were quoted in London at 60 per cent, of their nominal value and the reputa- tion of Mexico among the bankers of the world was at low ebb. But in 1893 Porfirio Diaz discovered a man of financial genius, a real leader of men and doer of deeds* and placed him in power as secretary of the treasury. Jose Yves Limantour im- mediately negotiated a European loan of $15,000,000. In 1899 this loan was refunded when he obtained a loan of $100,000,000 in Germany. In 1902 Limantour was able to be- gin the floating of a series of five issues of 5 per cent, silver bonds of $10,000,000 each, and in 1904 he borrowed $80,000,000 from J. P. Morgan & Co. On the first of Jan- uary, 1910, Mexico's foreign debt, whose interest Limantour had re- duced to 5 per cent., was quoted above par. Mexico had won a recog- nized and creditable financial stand- ing in the world. And where had all this borrowed money been going after the genius of Limantour had obtained it? Here are a few items : Toward the con- struction of 20,000 kilometers of railroad, $85,000,000. To the Te- hauntepec railway and its magnifi- cent artificial ports at Puerto Mex- ico and Salina Cruz, about $50,000,- 000. The splendid harbor works at Vera Cruz took $15,000,000, and the improvements in the ports of Manzanillo and Tampico called for $3,000,000, Floods had yearly in- undated Mexico City, carrying off hundreds of lives and destroviiiir MKXICO 353 property until $7,000,000 drained the valley. Unclean I iness and scar- city of water scourged the city with plagues until another $13,000,000 tapped the springs of Xochimilco, dug a fine sewerage system, paved the streets and raised the health level of a population of nearly half a million several hundred per cent. Add to these the public buildings, schools, hospitals, monuments, gov- ' eminent offices the beautifying of Chapultepec park and large loans for irrigation purposes, if you will, for good measure. But the revolution came and drove out Limantour. Another revolution drove out Ernesto Madero. Revolu- tion followed revolution until one fragment of the anarchy was recog- nized as a de facto govern men I and set itself to work to rebuild the na- tion through the exercise of the most atrocious military tyranny that Mexico has ever seen. Cent by cent the value of the de facto tyranny's currency has decreased in value. Month after month we hear of new floods of paper forced on an unwill- ing and helpless people. Year by year its home and foreign credit has crumbled. And this very money, issued by the government and paid out to its home creditors, is refused by that same govern men i in payment of taxes ! It demands the gold or silver of the days of Limantour! Where is the shred of stability in a government which not only has no credit at home or abroad, but which is compelled in self-defense to refuse its own legal tender when it is brought to the windows of its cash- iers? More than three hundred govern- ments have been overturned in Latin America since the dawn of their independence. All but two of them have left empty terasuries to their successors, and the majority left their country creditless at home and abroad. President Palma, of Cuba, true patriot that he was, left $27,000,000 in the treasury when he stepped down and out, and Senor Limantour handed over to Ernesto Madero, an uncle of President Ma- dero, $30,000,000 on deposit in the national treasury, in the National Bank of Mexico and in the strongest banks of Europe and the United States. So admirable a working machine did Ernesto Madero find in the treasury department that he not only adopted the methods of Limantour, realizing that only through co-opera- tion with foreign capital could the government expect to endure, but he also kept the personnel of the de- partment intact despite the clamor of the revolutionists for jobs. Senor Limantour may never re- turn to Mexico, but Mexico needs the kind of leadership with which he was gifted. Limantour had much to account for to the revolutionists, but the Indian crowd cannot do for Mexico and for the peon himself what the organizing genius of intel- ligent leadership has done. Will Mexico learn this lesson from its fiery and bitter experience with amateur, demagogue government ? Can we help it to learn that lesson if it will?— April 5, 1916. MAXIMILIAN AND CARRANZA The Emperor Maximilian was one of the most farsighted men who ever tried to rule Mexico. His vision was so distant that it is said he could see, at the end of the vista THE GRAVEST 366 PAYS his life, the wall at Queretaro against which he was destined to be stood up to face a tiring squad. It was Maximilian who, fifty years ago. summed up Mexico's relations to the United States in the following words : I have arrived at the conclusion, from which I will never vary, that do govern- ment, of whatsoever form, can exist •tanentty in Mexico which fails to win the good will of the government ami people of the United States. Maximilian's words, spoken at Mexico Citj at the close 01 our war between the states, might - ken w th still greater moaning '■■ Car- ranza in Vers I lay. Every phase in the career of the supreme chief of the constitutionalist party ought to have impressed upon liis mind the undeniable fact that with- out the friendly co-operation of "the government and people of the United States*' his adminis Q is hound to end in failure. And the host evidence of his dependence upon the United States is the fact that he has been unable to suppress the bandit Villa and that it has Won necessary for the United States to invade Mexican soil to vin< the inviolability of its own frontiers and the sanctity of the lives of it- own citizens. In what manner is Oarranza ac- knowledging his obligation (ov past support and his s tations of fu- ture favors By endangering the In 3 our - Idiers and imperiling the - of our operations in Mexico — the soldiers who are endeavoring to move the last obstacle to the lesl ation -o and the operations which aye designed to make the a vernment a sueeeia/. destroying Madero and cele- brating variegated hand its until Carranza placed it under such an in- quisition as makes it his tool to-day. The idea that Mexico was being sold piecemeal to Uncle Sam by the cien- tificos became an innate conviction because il squared so happily with the Mexican's idea, of patriotism, which has grown to be largely a matter o( hale for foreigners. The importation of armed Americans to defend the properties o\' the Cana- nea Consolidated Copper Co., the borrowing o\' Magalena hay. the sec- ond capture of Vera Cruz, and now our march through Chihuahua, all make very compact and powerful ammunition for the incorrigible rev- olutionary element which knows so well how to play on the feelings of the people. 356 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS Nor doos this element need typo and paper to make its dogmas wide- ly absorbed. They go from man to man. and mix with the very street games o( schoolless urchins, making the task of changing the Mexican mind more difficult each day. Sup- pose we do withdraw our troops, with Villa or without. Suppose our pur- pose is plain on its surface, and our good-will sincere and evident, will the people believe it — the people who know only that American sol- diers are in Mexico and that Mexi- cans have boon killed? They may in time, and it is our duty to make this possible, but ir will not be a short and easy process, and it will not be hastened by the approval of our actions through a Carranza-rid- den press. There is a considerable element in Mexico that recognizes clearly the intentions of the United States with regard to Mexican sovereignty, and appreciates the fact that Mexico can- not progress except through co-oper- ation.— April 12, 1916. HAVE WE A PLAN IN MEXICO? The obstructive tactics which Carranza is developing are tun a mere incident. They are a symptom of a situation which it behooves American diplomacy to adjust. Failure to adjust it will involve seri- ous danger to this country in the time of its need. If Carranza, after having tolerated our expedition in search o( Villa without co-operating with it. is now demanding that wo withdraw front Mexico, wo must search for errors of judgment and of action in our own policy. Have we a plan in Mi -v. o? A friendly Mexico, hound to us by a community o( interests and prepared to work loyally with us in repelling an invasion of the North American continent or ait attack upon the canal, is a prime requisite to the successful solution of Amer- ica's problem. And Mexico needs our help in the development of its vast resources, practically yet un- touched, as we need its neighborly -auction of our defensive plans, such as the construction and operation of a railroad to the canal. If Mexico cannot develop its mines, its oil wells, its plantations and its trans- portation system without American money. American organizing genius and American enterprise, neither can America look to the future with complete confidence without assur- ances that south of the Rio Grande we have a stanch friend upon whoso territory no enemy of our country could find lodgment or a haso for operations against us. The problem that wo have to solve in Mexico does not involve merely the pursuit of a bandit, no matter how bloodthirsty he may he. It has not io do only with the restoration of peace in the neighboring repub- lic. It comprises our whole rela- tions with a country of vast poten- tial resources and a great economic future, a country from which only an imaginary line separates us. Shall we abandon the hunt for Villa, or shall we defy Carranza, v 1 the railroads which we need for the purposes of our military operations and press on to the ac- complishment of our purpose — the capture or destruction of Pen Pan- cho? And. having captured or de- stroyed the author of the Columbus butchery, shall we remain in Mexico until peace has been restored, or MF.X1C0 357 shall wo abandon it to its fate again Without a far-seeing and con- st met i\e plan we cannot hope to solve the problem. Have we a plan? — April 14, 101G. lit' Mexico's need of a comprehensive public school system that should in- clude Chihuahua.— April 17, 1916. THE MEXICAN MIND Most of ihf mischief thai i< done in this world is (he fruit of ignor- ance. The truth of the old ami un- successfully assailed adage thai "a lit tU 1 knowledge is a dangerous thing" is brought Ereshly to mind by the receni utterances of El Demo- cni/ii." a Carranza organ, published in Chihuahua. This newspaper solemnly assures its readers that a revival of the "plan of San Diego" is under way, and that the stales of Texas, Arizona. New Mexico, Color- ado. California and I'tah are only waiting for an opportunity to join a Mexican invader, throw dtT their al- legiance to the United States, and form a separate republic as a pre- liminary stop to the restoration of Mexico as it was he fore the Mexican war. Our esteemed Chihuahua neighbor bases its assumption of the forth- coming partition of the Union upon the sage declaration that the '"North Americans" are "regarded with groat hatred by the populace o\' those states." There is a low grade of intelli- gence to which the printed word hoars a message of semi-magic power, not to he questioned or con- tradicted. That grade 1 of intelli- gence is the prevalent one in Mexico. Contempt for a neighbor is a Q dan- gerous a thing as the proverbial "little knowledge." Tho utterances of El Democrata are fresh e\ idence FEMINISM IN MEXICO Inning the later years of tho rule of Porfirio Diaz, the Mexican wom- an el' the middle class began to find employment in government offices. Here she came under thai constant and demoralizing drizzle of eorrup- i ion that fell from above on all un- derlings who had to do with bureau- cratic politics. She absorbed the at- mosphere of petty thievery and graft that hung over almost all political business transactions, and she be- came a party to small intrigues and clique-formings that wort 1 magnified I'm- her into revolutionary measures in the name of patriotism. The veneer of learning that a smattering of education had given her made easier their acceptance of the under- current of second-hand feminism that trickled from an irresponsible press which the hand of Diaz, in his old ago. hail failed to curb. Senor Limantour, as minister of finance, had noticed tho baneful ef- fects upon women employes of a sudden contact with public employ- ment, and their reflex effect upon the morals of the whole body of go\ eminent employes; so ho closed the doors o\' his department to wom- en applicants. Now Senor Liman- tour, through the subtle publicity methods of the TCeyist revolutionists, had been ereated a very arch-type of that fabulous hody of horrific public thieves, "the Cientificos," who were supposed to ho wringing the nock of Mexico that they might sell the hody to American million- aire-. Therefore, when tho revolu- - THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS lion called for the moral support of Mexican feminism against the Cien- tifico regime, ii met with no half- hearted response. These women did not want the ballot. They were intelligent enough to see what a farce the bal- lot was in the hands of the men. Bnt they did think it possible to monopolize government offices, and that men should be drafted off into fields o^ work better fitted to mas- culine muscle and nerve. Their pa- triotism was one of job ami pay. They welcomed the Reyistas because they promised unlimited positions. They cheered Madero until they found that he had resolved to keep in place all employes who were do- ing good work at their po>ts. Their pictures appeared in our papers showering Diaz and lluerta with confetti after the tragic week of the Madero i oup de main. The lightning changes of name in the organization o\' women employes of the government is another index of their patriotism. In the days ot Diaz they were "Daughters o( Car- melita," named after the dictator's wife. When Madero triumphed their name changed to "Daughters of Mrs. Sara P. de Madero." Next came "Daughters o( lluerta's Iron Hand." Daughters of this, that and the other have followed, some enthusiastic circles taking on the names o\' such heroes as Villa and Zapata. Now, of course, there are '''Daughters of Carranza" abroad in the land. Bui there is only one way to look at this new force in Mexican poli- tics. It must be trusted and treated constructively by intelligent and sympathetic leadership. I'ntil this is done it will remain unstable and dangerous. The heart o( the middle- class Mexican woman with economic ambitions is sound enough, and it has no inherent love for bloodshed and the breaking up of homes. These women may cheer a Cheehe Campos, whose only claim to glory is the fact that he devastated the entire state o\' Purango and boasted o( setting tire to seventy-two plan- tations with his owti hand: but such emotional demonstrations are ephem- eral and should not be an index of possibilities in Mexican womanhood. In the restoration o( Mexico to come, the potential for good that lies in this green and untried stuff must be used sympathetically and on its own terms — jobs with pay for a day's work done. That means business organization, not military play. The experiment which must be tried (for these women will not return to drawn-work on the ver- anda) will prove interesting, — April 20. L916. OUR DANGER IN MEXICO \- our punitive expedition has advanced into Mexico, the political and military problems surrounding it have grown in scope and com- plexity, The gravest phase of the situation is the increasing hostility ^( the Carranza administration, or its officers in the field, to our troops. The strategic disposal o\' Carranza forces along the thin line o\' Amer- ican communications is a factor which is disturbing Gen. Scott, the chief o\' staff, to such an extent that he has gone to San Antonio te con- fer with Gen. Funston, Gen. Scott's state o( mind on the subject is suf- ficient indication o\' the serious as- pect o( the problem which confronts (Sen. Pershing, in actual command of the operations. MEXICO 359 It is becoming evident thai we shall soon be face to face with the choice of withdrawing from Mexico without the achievement of our staled purpose — "the capture or de- struction of Villa" — or risking hos- tilities, not with V ilia's shattered hands, hut with the Carranza forces, the forces of the de facto govern- ment which exists hy virtue of our recognition of its status as a gov- ernment. Which alternative shall we adopt? Shall we, for the sake of* maintain- ing outwardly harmonious relations with the Mexican people, submit to the humiliation of quitting Mexico without accomplishing our avowed purpose, or shall we stick to the line of policy which we proclaimed at the beginning of the expedition? The adoption of the first alterna- tive is repugnanl to our dignity as well as to our good sense. By quit- ting Mexico at this stage of events we would run the inevitable risk of prpducing in the Mexican mind an impression of weakness which it will take us generations to over- come. And the Mexican mind is peculiarly susceptible to contemptu- ous impressions of North America. If we adopt the second alternative we would plunge into a military un- dertaking of vast proportions — and we have neither the men nor the equipment lor any such enterprise. War with the Carranza forces, in addition to those of Villa, would mean a war with the Mexican peo- ple. And the crushing of bhe Mex- ican people would present a task of the first magnitude, not so much on account of their military prowess as because of the large extent of ter- ritory we would have to cover in any such military enterprise. — April 21, 1916. LICKING THE CREAM 1 1 may he a part of universal jus- t ice that the underlings of ObregOU and Carranza should have their in- nings and that servants and ranch- men should wallow in the confis- cated luxuries of Mexico's wealthy exiles. It may he that if is no worse to rob at the point of a gun than to rob by monopolizing meat markets. But the spectacle of destruction that Mexico presents, and the childish Waste of time and money and prop- city that is indulged in in the name of Liberty and justice, is dishearten- ing because it is symptomatic of rot- tenness at the very core of what we have tried to believe is a revolution- ary change for the benefit of the Mexican people. If property wrvr confiscated and the proceeds placed in the vacuous national treasury, or u^cd to relieve the famine conditions that prevail in many parts of Mexico, or in any way were devoted to the purposes for which the revolutions stand, we might he patient. But to wantonly destroy factories, to break into the houses of the wealthy, tear up their libraries and furniture and, in short, to indulge in periodic riots of van- dalism, does not' remind us very strongly of Washington or Bolivar or even of Miguel TTidalgo. Carranza's power has been built on such foundations. So long as his closed military system controls the possible sources of income through taxation, levies, confiscation and lootings, he may survive. But just as surely as he shall attempt to replace the military by a civil order, the whole Carranza faction will granulate. The situation is impos- sible and presents no tangible ele- ments that can he huilt into a con- 160 111 K liKAYKST 366 PAYS Btructive plan from within. The problem has ceased to be one merely of political transactions, military tactics and a redistribution of gov- ernors. It presents the knotty as- pect o maguey cactus. Perhaps a few o{ them have had a taste of aguar- diente (burning water). These are the Mexican national drinks. (hie o\' the reasons for the boys having this opportunity is that in Mexico there is a "'land question." This question is far from simple, but is built roughly of the follow- ing facts: The stealing from the Indians o( considerable lands that belonged to them : the exploitation of Mexican land by native and for- eign capitalists unjustly: the idle- ness of much arable land through the whim of large landowners: lack of irrigation for semi-arable land; exhaustion of soil due to ignorance on the part of the Indian and mes- tizo: incompetence on the part of a large body of the population with regard to utilizing the soil. Now this last reason, incompetence, de- serves a moment's attention. It is true that the Mexican In- dian is a primitive just beginning to react to the incidence of Euro- pean civilization, and very slow to respond to its stimulus in any con- structive direction. It is true that the Mexican half-breed seems to lack all initiative and to be poorly endowed with imitative faculties. It is true that he responds admirably to kindly and just paternalistic MEXICO 363 treatment and turns out a fair amount of work. Hut in the role of alcohol in his proverbial incompe- tence, and iu the degeneration of the Indian stock, is still an unknown quantity, though its results are plainly marked in many wholesale instances. Vast tracts of richly fertile Mex- ican land, especially in the state of Mexico, are devoted to growing the maguey cactus. The return from this land is not food, it is prac- tically a slow poison, thai befuddles the minds of tens, hundreds of thousands of men who ought to be tilling that land for the corn that their children are starving for. Again, while Mexico has been im- porting corn from the Tinted States and Argentina tor the past twenty- five years, thousands of bushels of her own production has gone into fermenting vats and distilling retorts for the manufacture of a swifter and more spirited poison, which has in its turn rendered Mexico less com- petent to deal with its own agrarian problems. For the principal land problem is how to utilize what arable land there is to the best ad- vantage. Victoriano Huerta did not in- dulge heavily in either pulque or aguardiente. His piracies enabled him to pay for very old and ve in- expensive cognac. Hut his alcohol- ism is typical of a great deal of that temporary insanity which lies be- low the periodic outbursts of butch- ery that we hear about in Mexico now and then. Just as the "disap- pearance" or "suicide" of congress- men, governors, lawyers, army offi- cers and mere citizens were due to Huerta"s inordinate love of cognac, so a goodly percentage of those out- rages that are attributed to the na- tive savagery of the Mexican can be traced to the misuse id' Mexican land in the production of alcohol. Mexico is a problem. It will not he solved by our "punitive expedi- tion" or by border conferences. When we, or we plus other nations, or sonic European power or powers are compelled to step in to save Mexico from completing her at- tempt at suicide, the pulque-aguar- diente question will have to be faced as a real issue, just as vodka had to he faced in Russia. This is no tem- perance lesson, it is merely another fact of the multiple problem of Mexico.— May 11, 1916. A TAX MAP OF MEXICO There is little doubt hut what the majority of the American people are opposed to intervention in Mexico. We would much rather see Mexico settle her own infernal affairs with- out even so much as a punitive ex- pedition on our part. But we are in Mexico, and we know that the Mexican people need com, beans and milk primarily and a decent Mexi- can government as a secondary prop- osition. There may be time to get the decent government first and let it furnish the eatables, hut this is doubtful in the face of the facts. Corn, beans and milk are a mat- ter of agriculture. Land connotes taxes. Taxes in Mexico heretofore have been dictated by I he owners of land with regard to their own wel- fare. The Madero government and the Carranza government have ver- bally committed themselves to tax reform, and have done nothing — • because they could do nothing. The talk about land distribution is al- most wholly nonsense, because under m THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS an adequate system of taxation the land would distribute itself. The few hidalgos who have hold good land idle and prevented the uatives from acquiring and cultivating it have done so because they didnt have to make the land pay for itself. There is no crime in possessing a million acres oi barren mountain or alkali plain. Nobody wants those geographical sections. Yet land has been taxed by areas instead of by worth, or else it has been taxed on the say-so of a wealthy haeienado over champagne and pate-de-foi- gras. As part of any constructive pro- gramme for the rebuilding oi Mex- . the making of an agricultural map of Mexico with reference to a just system o( taxation on the basis of arability and proximity to means of transportation, would be a capi- tal point. We could render hardly any greater service to Mexico than 10 show her people how to do this thing. It would not solve all her problems, by any means, but it would go far toward giving her the '•tortillas and frijoles" that she so painfully needs. — May 13, 1916. VENGAN LOS AMERICANOS All over "Mexico the better ele- ment o( the people is beginning to say, "Yengan los Americanos" — let the Americans come. They say it unwillingly, to be sure. They hate the thought o( American interven- tion with all the force of their tra- ditional patriotism, but they are so utterly sick o( the brigandage of Villa. Zapata and Obregon that they would co-operate heartily with an American intervention if that were of the right kind. They have little sympathy with a mere punitive expedition, a military spanking of naughty children who have displeased Uncle Sam. But with a serious and forceful attempt to restore order in Mexico in behalf of the people themselves they would actively accord. If we should intervene in Mexico under the white flag of truce and the emblem of the Red Cross, using our rifles only when necessary against armed despots of whatever brand: if we placed a strict and ef- fective embargo on arms and am- munition for Mexicans: if we put the railways under such control that food could be distributed to a semi-starving population; if wo put an end to the exportation of cattle and food products from the nearly stripped republic, the way would be cleared for a definite reconstruc- tion. Thou the thousands of exiles could return to their homes. An election, superintended by an Amer- ican army police, would determine justly the immediate political need o( the people. The will o( the Mex- ican people has never been heard. because there has never been a fair election in that republic. Now is the golden opportunity for us and for Mexico. After such an election, the intel- ligence of Mexico could proceed to its tax reform, the land reforms that the true liberals have in mind. This would in no wise bo a return to Porfirism, it would be a new Mex- ico, with a fresh start toward what- ever form o( democracy may best tit it> needs, to be worked out by Mex- icans themselves. Then, indeed, we might "withdraw*' completely, and with the lasting gratitude o( all Mex- icans save those who have lived for MEXICO 365 the pas! sis years by holding up a people at the muzzle o( a gun. — May 20, L916. WELCOME THE JUNGLE! Tho Mexican revolutions are cer- tainly succeeding in the accomplish- ment of at least one of their avowed purposes. They are vigorously re^ storing the land to its original pos- sessors. 1 1 mkes but two years for the marvelouslv fertile Bugar-cane land o\' the slate of Morelos to return to i he reign o\' the jungle. Land that has taken twenty years to become civilized and yield \\mh\ for the Mex- ican people (for they, too, eat sugar!) is overrun with giant thorn and weedy nnderhnish almost the moment il is left (intended. Zapata has succeeded in reducing the pro- ducts it v o\' the lands in his zone from the lirst rank to practically nothing. Villa and his hands have destroyed and prevented the sowing of crops in the north. The Car- ranzisias have been equally guilty wherever they ha\e operated, al- though white-washed by our recog- nition as a "de facto government." The slogan "Mexico for the Mex- icans!" is fast giving way to a sterner decree of Nature herself — "Mexico for the Jungle!" and the people starve. — May 35, 1916. THE MEXICAN ISSUE The Wilson ]dea that the Taft ad- ministration blundered in Mexico and that, therefore, Wilson could not avoid blundering, too, is not likely to impress the countuy as a justify- ing reason for a national policy that has tolerated, and in a sense con- doned, the unspeakable crimes com- mitted in Mexico on American men and women, and particularly on those men and women who de\o(ed themselves to the spread oi' religion and education. Nothing that has happened through all the Bavagery that lias been going on in Europe for two years past is comparable in infamy or inhumanity with the offenses repeatedly committed against our citizens and our Hag in Mexico without protest from us. The reply of the country to tin 1 Democratic platform's declaration that President Wilson's mistakes have been incidental to a broad pol- icy will be that the mistakes have been too serious to he classed as "incidental" to any policy. The President's record does not consti- tute a policy. It is merely a series of mistakes mistakes that have been tragic in their consequences ami thai stain our government's at- titude with the blood of our own citizens. Mr. Wilson must shoulder this re- sponsibility. It is solely his. — Jmw L5, 1916. ' IF INTERVENTION It cannot he too often stated that, in case o( American intervention in Mexico, there will he found a very solid body of influential ami intel- ligent Mexican opinion and power in favor of our efforl \o restore or- der. Not that this element will wel- come us. not that it will he less bit- lot- against the destructive role that it considers our administration has played in Mexican affairs, but only that it sees no other possihle solution for "Mexico's tragic puzzle. Tn case of intervention the vast hulk of Mexico's native population 366 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS of twelve millions or more will re- main practically quiescent. It has neither the facilities nor the will to move. It wants only a chance to plant corn again, to be paid its reg- ular bi-monthly wage for work done and to be relieved of the heel of the "patriotic" banditti. Intervention would send a wave of uniting patriotism through a large part of the population of Mexico. There would be furious talk and startling demonstrations. But as for solid unity, effective organiza- tion, formidable resistance except of the desultory guerilla type — these things cannot be maufactured out of patriotic indignation over night. In- tervention would be a bard, un- palatable task, but of nothing like the dimensions we are wont to pic- ture it, and not nearly so unwelcome to Mexico as we have been led to believe, IF we will but enter into immediate co-operation with that body of Mexican opinion that is ready, though reluctantly, to assist in saving the remnants of Mexico's social fabric and good name. — June 16, 1916. WAR WITH MEXICO The border between Mexico and the United States, counting the sinuosities of ' the Rio Grande, is more than 1.500 miles in length, or as far as from New York City to Omaha. From one-half to two-thirds of the inhabitants of the border towns and counties on the American side are Mexicans. Many of these are hostile to Americans. On both sides of the border are criminals who are refu- gees from across the line, Mexican renegades in the United States, American renegades in Mexico. A war with Mexico would have many of the characteristics of ordi- nary war, but more of the charac- teristics of Indian and guerilla war- fare, modified by the existence of trained armies and experienced offi- cers, equipped with modern arms. Brownsville, on the narrow and shallow Rio Grande, is sometimes shot up from the Mexican side. Brownsville has 13,000 inhabitants, 10,000 of them being Mexicans. El Paso is in somewhat the same situa- tion as Brownsville, also Eagle Pass. There are many towns on the fron- tier where the main street is the di- viding line between Mexico and the United States. The greater part of the Mexican soldiers are Indians, and the ablest are the Yaqui In- dians, who resemble the Apaches. Any town or village or ranch along the 1,500 miles may be at- tacked in force. Atrocities that have characterized our previous Indian wars are possi- ble, and that, too, on a large scale. War with Mexico must be waged with all the ability and energy of the whole nation. It would be well if the able man were put in charge of military oper- ations at the beginning, instead of waiting until untold horrors force action. The right man to put in charge of the Mexican situation is Leonard Wood. His experience qualifies him, and the work he has done proves his fitness for this task. — June 19, 1916. AFTER INTERVENTION, WHAT? Carranza's hordes of petty chief- tains, each largely controlled by MEXICO 367 pettier chieftains below him, will be fused into the semblance of an or- ganized army by the incidents of a foreign war. This army will be de- feated, broken into small bands that will continue to harass our opera- tions and prove an ugly menace in guerilla style until we starve them out of ammunition. Then the men will be hunted down and disarmed. If the}' choose, they can get down to constructive work. The railways must be rebuilt. The jungle must be fought back again to its boundaries around the once-cultivated land. Corn must be planted for the hungry population. Cattle must be rounded up and pro- tected from slaughter and exporta- tion. There is plenty for the Mexi- can to do. Typhoid fever must be wiped out of the large cities, where it has al- ready become a menace to us through the migrations of the body louse. Sixty thousand Mexicans must re- turn to their native land and be al- lowed to occupy or rebuild what is left of their one-time homes. A tax-map of Mexico should be made, putting land taxation on an equal basis and thus doing away with the greatest of land abuses at the hands of the great landlords. Seed corn must flood into Mexico. The work of irrigation must be re- commenced and pushed forward, for no distriubtion of land will solve the agrarian question of a simple and childlike people as the Mexican In- dian is. His land must be made to yield more than an alkali crust patched with wiry grass. The press must be liberated from the military heel, and, in control of men who are tired of red ruin and the breaking up of laws, tell the truth about ximerican intentions in Mexico and assure the people that as soon as these capital changes are brought about the American army will be withdrawn. These things may be done much more quickly than pessimists would have us believe, once some of that vast energy that has turned on itself in destruction is liberated for up- building. There is enough of the intelligence, constructive element in Mexico to work wonders once it is given a chance and it recognizes that the one chance lies in our car- rying through of a friendly, though military, intervention in behalf of decency and order. — June 20, 1916. HOW WAR MAY POSSIBLY BE AVOIDED WITH MEXICO By S. S. McClure. From the 23rd of July to the 4th of August, 1914, the governments of England, Germany, France, Bus- sia, Austria-Hungary, Belgium and Italy were engaged -each in urging the others to compose their differ- ences and not risk a war which would be the most terrible and de- structive in history. No one can read these notes and talk to the authors of the notes without realizing that all the gov- ernments of Europe eagerly and honestly worked for peace. The fu- tility of notes was never before shown so clearly. There are four men, Sir Edward Grey, Sazonov, Count Berchtold and von Bethmann- Hollweg, who, had they been face to face, could likety have prevented this war. The most dangerous occupation in the world is the waging of a word- war. We are now engaged in a futile ; v THE GRAVEST 366 PAYS and dangerous word-war with Mex- ico. The atmosphere and control- ling forces of tho word-fighters are so hostile each to the other that every possible hindrance exists to prevent their minds front meeting. Their objects are identical. There is 4io natural obstacle to a peaceful and beneficent solution of the Mexi- can situation: hut there are serious artificial and factitious obstacles to a proper solution. A war with Mexico would be another monument to the ineptitudes of negotiation by cor- respondence or by incompetent agents, Yestcrdav 1 referred to Gen, Wood as a man to handle the Mexican situation. I've met (Sen. Wood only twice in my life. The total of my intercourse with him (!oc< not exceed ten minutes. I judge him entirely hv his achieve- moms. lien. Wood i< a man in the prime of physical and mental vigor, lie is the ranking general in the American army. His statesmanlike work in Cuba and the Philippines has given him a reputation all over the world as the foremost living diplomat in dealing with countries identical in many respects with Mexico. He is just, far-seeing and sympathetic. He is. for want o( a better term, the greatest colonial administrator now living, and he ranks with the greatest in history. Such is his po- sition in the judgment o( leading statesmen in all civilized countries. There is no man so qualified to in- spire affectionate trust and confi- dence in the minds of the rank and tile of such a nation as "Mexico. He is the titles! instrument to conduct our negotiations with Mexico, not by notes, hut face to face. Gen. Wood is the most competent military man in the United States. He is also in the matter of this sort the most competent negotiator. Leonard Wood has had a career which thrills Americans to read, It is full of a spirit o( high adven- ture and great achievement, of force and gentleness combined, of a readi- ness to serve his country in emer- gency, and then step down from a pinnancle when the emergency was over. In 1S86 Leonard Wood, a young man of twenty-six. entered the army as an assistant surgeon. He was attached to the forces of Gen. Miles, which were engaged in cleaning out the Apaches and in rounding up old Chief Geronimo. In his first two years Wood had won the medal of honor for distinguished service; one night he rode seventy miles through a country infested with hos- tile Indians and the next day cov- ered thirty miles on foot, carrying dispatches. He became known as the only man who could tire an Apache on the trail. He was the best hoxer. the host all-round athlete in the army. Every one in the West knew him. That is why Roosevelt, who had met and known him in the West, joined him in forming a regi- ment o( Rough Riders for the Spanish-American war. But Wood's great achievement in Cuba came not on the field of battle. His greatest work was not done at San Juan Hill, hut in the office of admin- istrator and pacitier of an oppressed and war-torn country. There may have been colonial ad- ministrators of greater ability than Leonard Wood, hut. if so. history has neglected to record them. When the war was over he found himself governor of the city of Santiago. Live minutes after he sat at his. MUX ICO 309 desk some one asked him how he would begin. "(Mean up two hun- dred years of dirt," was the an- swer. And he did ii. did it so well Hint he was made governor of tin*, province of Santiago. Santiago was the hotbed of Cu- ban revolutionary activities, and the mainspring of it all lay in a Eev red editors who lived on tin' propagan- da of revolution. They violently at- tacked Wood, and his advisers de- manded, (heir suppression. Bui I he young general called them before him and said: "You may say anything against me personally, bul the moment you attack the govenmenl 1 simii put you in Morro c.-isi le and keep you there." From the province of Santiago he was called to he governor-general of Cuba. Al the age of thirty-nine he sat in the chair oi' Weyler in the palace al Eavana. Placed in the most difficult of positions, with perpetual opportunity io make er- rors, he made none, lie won the friendship o\' the church, of Spanish and Cuban elements, even the ap- proval of that small class of West Pointers who saw with envy a civil- ian soldier rising to the position of head of the United States army. Gov.-Gen. Wood won universal approval because he made good. Some owo said, ''Flaws have been found in the administ rat ion of other generalSj hut only a steady stream o\' praise for Wood." By modern water supply, sowers, roads, sanita- tion, he math 1 the Cuban pestholes habitable. He averted a yellow fever plague and stamped out the danger for all time, lie gave Cuban cities a lower death rate than AYash- ington itself, lie established police eourts and a system of justice in the island. When he began at San- tiago he said : "The most important thing is to gel Hi" children Off tin- streets ami into the s.hoois." ii,- did it for all Cuba. He taught the Cubans how to gov- ern themselves, taught them so well that, when wo withdrew from the island, the system which Wood in- stituted began to work and has worked since. As agent of the United States he showed the world how America can lake up the white man's burden, leach a half-civilized people to rule themselves and then withdraw when the service is done. lb' devised the railroad laws for Cuba, laying thereby the founda- tions o\' prosperity with fairness to the nation and railway men alike. In 1903 Leonard Wood was made a major-general of the regular army. He served in the Philippines and returned to bo chief of the East- ern department, with headquarters on Governor's Island. From 1910 to 1914 he was chief of stall' at Washington; then, with the passage of a law requiring rotation of the position o( chief of stall', he re- turned io Governor's Island. It was Wood who originated the Plattsburg training camp idea. It was he who has from the start in- sisted upon some form of universal military service as the basis of our defense. There Is no other solution. On February 21, 1916, he said: "We cannot maintain our democracy and rely with any degree of certainty on a hireling army." Four days later he set forth the terrible danger of a volunteer army — which means a policy of prepar- ing for war after war has begun: "A voluntary army is like a volunteer lire department which the mayor calls out after the fire has started. The vol- 370 THE GRAYEST 366 DAYS unteers of England have all made a noble sacrifice, but they have been killed off." Hemmed in by all the limitations of public utterance that surround a man in his career, Gen. Wood has made a deep impression on his coun- trymen. He is a great soldier, but still more, a great organizer, a great leader of men. At this moment there is one of two things to be done. Settle the Mexican trouble peacefully or by war. For either solution the fittest man is Gen. Wood. If the settle- ment is to be by war, the lives of thousands of American youth de- pend on good generalship. England has had to face problems similar to what we had to face in Cuba and the Philippines and now in Mexico. Lord Cromer, one of her greatest administrators, told me that in his work in Cuba and the Philippines Gen. Wood in this field ranked with the greatest adminis- trators in history. He said thai his work in Cuba and the Philippines could not be surpassed. There is no country where the sense of nationality and national dignity is stronger than in Mexico. This must be taken into considera- tion in dealing with a people whose ideas about the United States are utterly fantastic. Our ideas about Mexico are sufficiently removed from actuality. Negotiations by notes must lead Mexico either to war or to humiliation as Mexico feels it, Now is the time, if ever, for a qualified plenipotentiary. — June 21, 1916. NOT TOO LIGHT HEARTED We hear that the war in Mexico, if war comes, will be only a skirmish. Xo one will see any real service there, only a trip to the border, a few weeks in San Antonio, or a joy ride into Chihuahua. This is the century-old error of facing war too light-heartedly. Why should we, after all, be able to conceive of this business of war? •It is no part of our experience, so we visualize it as a variation of what Ave know — the works of peace. Yet it is well to steel ourselves for other things. It is well to re- call that Washington society drove out to Bull Run in carriages to see the game. In 1898 the Boers were to be eaten alive at one gulp. We still remember reading of the British posters at the beginning of this war, advertising a free shooting trip up the Rhine, for volunteers. The Germans promised to be in Paris in six weeks. The Cossacks were to cat Christmas dinner in Berlin. Churchill was going to dig the rats gaily out of their holes. If we tight in Mexico, we fight a hostile country of 13,000,000. Their lack of arms will be compensated by Their advantage in defending a most difficult country against a force mostly untrained for this in- timate sort of fighting. If we come to blows we face no easy task, no light >arrifices, no mimic warfare. Let us now recognize that Mexico is our Balkan peninsula. It is the touchstone by which our foreign policy is tested. Unless we succeed there, we cannot succeed in the larger World relations to which we are called. Let us bring the highest intelli- gence in the land to bear upon the problems involved. Let us utilize all the information that exists. We can take counsel with Amer- icans who have gone to Mexico MEXICO 371 pioneering the introduction of mod- ern industrial and economic de- velopment without making ourselves subservient to corporate interests. We must place the ablest men that our public service and army life has developed in charge of opera- tions, so that whatever undertaking circumstances force upon us may be carried through in a thoroughly systematic manner and with ade- quate preparation. Such a tragedy as that of Mexico only the fool- hard v can face light-heartedly. — June 22, 1916. THE BLOOD-SPILLING AT CARRIZAL The word Carrizal — the name of an obscure station on the Mexican Central Railway — is looming lurid in the destinies of two neighboring nations. At that point, according to the Mexican version of events, an American force declined to obey Gen. Trevino's "order" to desist from any forward movement, was attacked, lost twelve men, including its commander, and retreated be- fore overwhelming numbers. It is not necessary to go far into the background of this lamentable incident in order to appreciate it at its full value as a menace to the nominally peaceful relations be- tween the United States and Mex- ico. It is not necessary to remem- ber that the troops which were at- tacked had advanced into Mexican territory with the express consent of Venustiano Carranza, the Mexi- can "'first chief." It is not necessary to recall even that the purpose for which that force had entered Mex- ico was to aid in the tranquilization of the disturbed republic. It is only necessary to consider that, while President Wilson was straining the resources of diplo- macy in his endeavor to prevent an open breach with Mexico, a Mexi- can force, while the negotiations were pending, treated an American detachment as if war had already been declared and the slaughter of the enemy had become a patriotic virtue. President Wilson, by the bloody incident of Carrizal, has been brought face to face with a situa- tion that brings the grim fact of war much nearer to America than anything that had gone before. Con- gress, aroused by the latest and most sinister page of our unhappy relations with Mexico for three years past, is awaiting the signal to utter the word that will mark the opening of a second war with Mexico. The word has not yet been spoken.' The gates of the Temple of Janus are still closed, but they are beginning to swing on their hinges. Shall the fateful words be ut- tered? Shall the gates open wide? The event of Carrizal has placed the decision in the hands of our southern neighbor. Will Mexico realize the solemity of its obliga- tion and act promptly in the inter- ■ests of peace, or will the rifles of Trevino's men be suffered to open the new war between two nations whose destinies should run side by side for the greater happiness and prosperity of both?— June 23, 1916. TYPICAL OUTRAGES IN MEXICO A few months ago a raiding band of Mexicans in Texas was met by a 372 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS small force of United States cav- alry. During the ensuing fight a soldier disappeared. Two weeks afterward a laborer in Texas was found to be wearing the boots of the missing soldier. This is what happened: The sol- dier was captured, taken across the river into Mexico. He was hitched to a horse; when the horse gal- loped the soldier must either be dragged on the ground or. run as I'asl as the horse. Then his ears were cut off, and after other tor- tures his head was eui off and stuck on a pole. This was an American hoy twenty-three years old, who was helping protect life and property in Texas. Near Tampico there, was an old man Living with his daughter and a niece on a little farm. Four Me\ Leans came ami. after getting Ids money, lied him to a tree, and in succession, within fifteen feet of him. outraged the niece. There is a large collection of re- ports, fully authenicated, of out- rages, tortures, murders and rapine in the United States and in Mexico, upon American men and women and boys and girls. Incredibly hor- rible 1 outrages occur frequently in the United Stales along the 1,800- mile Mexican frontier. — June 23, 1916. either too busy or too blockaded to uphold the full volume of their for- eign commerce OPPORTUNITY AND PER- FORMANCE IN MEXICO The present administration is justly proud of the marvelous growth of foreign trade since 1912. Part of that growth is temporary and when the war ends such trade will revert to its former owners like Great Britain or Germany, now The part of our growing foreign trade which will endure is the part which is anchored by American in- vestments abroad. The old saying that trade follows the flacr is beinsr replaced by a new maxim that trade follows investment. If an American investment company like the Ameri- can International Corporation builds a street railway in South America, it means the purchase o( rails and cars from American manufacturers and the installation o\' a power plant by American engineers and electric companies. AH these American con- cerns employ labor; half the pro- ceeds of the foreign sales will be turned over to American workmen. In undeveloped countries trade follows the investment, but what does investment follow? It will not go far or long without the compan- ionship of the Hag of its protecting government. We are children in this matter. England has taught the world the lesson of foreign in- vestment and foreign trade. Eng- lish investors lend more than a bil- lion dollars a year to the hack ward countries of the world because they know that the navy follows that in- vest men I and. if the government which invited and allowed that loan cannot protect the development that arises from it, then the British mili- tary forces will compel order and exact reparation for damage done. On the protection of these invest- ments depends the willingness of employers to hire laborers to pro- duce machinery and railroad mate- rial for sale abroad. There is no sense in shirking the problem in Mexico. American, Brit- ish, German capital need protection MUX I CO 373 there and the establishment of a firm govern at. This is no Less for the advantage of foreign capital in Mexico i I m n for the benefit of its unhappy population, harried by con- tending bands of revolutionaries. No one wants permanent military occupation of Mexico. We want done I here what was done in Cuba. Contrast the plight of Mexico and the prosperity of Cuba -neither one of which we own or want to own — and the contrast measures the dis- tance between opportunity and per- formance. — Tune 34, L916. TO THE NEW YORK NA- TIONAL GUARD GOODBY AND GOOD LUCK! Our national guard is going to the Mexican border and probably into Mexico. It is no trip to visit friends and no siimmer vacation country. These men are going into Mexico,- not to gel anything for themselves, nor even for the United States, e\ eept for security on our southern border. Mefore they are through they will cast out the alternating sets of bandits who prey on the un- happy Mexican people, ami give the people order and peace to harvest and enjoy the fruits of their indus- try. Tbe same military crowd that robs the Mexicans, robs and murders across our own border; the two evils will be abolished together. Yet the very ones we are going to serve will he duped or bullied into opposing us. That is the irony of it. Is New York really as insensible to the meaning of this departure as it seems? Women and men who complacently stay at home look casually upon New York soldiers marching through the streets to en- train. Some of us do noi know what is happening. Some of us do not know bow to express ourselves; some of us t hi nk it is bad form ; some of us are simply too busy with our o\\ n affairs. Ahead of these New York men who arc going to do our part in this work arc tbe rigors of campaigns in the dust-choked, burning desert, in mountains thai swarm with guer- rillas that know every inch of them, in towns full of civilian snipers. They face the more serious prob- lems of commissary supply and med- ical attendance. When our men are none we shall read every paragraph in tbe reports sent back by the correspondents that go with them. When they come hack, we will line the streets from the r,;itlery to the park and give them a hero's welcome. Souk; of those who are leaving will never see thai welcome, dust, to be sure that they all know we appreciate them, show them now. Hals otf to the flag, give the men a cheer, and individ- ually wish them Cod speed. To the guard, good-by, good luck and God bless you. — June 26, 1916. RECONSTRUCTION IN MEXICO A wonderful task awaits tbe doing in Mexico. That laslc is the mod- ernization of a medieval people, the putting of machinery in the hands of rude artisans, the setting free of tho imprisoned resources of man and soil, the guidance of Mexico into its own. This, is in its essence work not of a military but of an economic nature, whatever military flourish or prelude there may be be- fore tbe workers begin . ;:; i THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS Destiny has decreed thai we should take up the work which Spaib as a colonial power could not finish. Magnificent as was Spain's accom- plishment, it was the achievement o( a medieval power that is only to-day learning to lit itself into the modern capitalistic world. Over a hundred years before the English came to this hemisphere the Spaniards came to Mexico. We hear too much of Spanish exploita- tion of Mexico. The Spanish settled and lived there, and civilized the people. The great land owners and the church taught them to he in- dustrious, sober, religious. A patri- archal, agricultural land arose, and as it was 300 years ago, so it re- mains to-day. To he sure, the Spanish developed other than agricultural resources; they mined for silver. Hut it was pickaxe mining, with the labor of men. The Spanish genius has not even at home learned the wonder of capital, which means investments, machinery for oil wells, copper mines, railroads, factories. This modern development came into Mex- ico from other sources, from Eng- land, America, Germany. No agricultural country has laws or governmental machinery to fos- ter or even protect the new forms of property that thus arise. Govern- ment and laws were weak and local in character; industry requires both io he strong and centralized. Invest- ment and industry developed in Mex- ico faster than the new framework of laws and government. Mountain hands, the wild tribes of the south, and even political parties, found it profitable to plunder and blackmail the half-protected foreign indus- trials. Hence the revolutions o( the last five years, and. to-day, anarchy. Now industry, capital, .progress, cannot gel out of Mexico. Mexico must get into them. That means a new sort of laws, a new kind of government, a new attitude toward employers and investors. The crea- tion of such laws, such a govern- ment, such an attitude, is what W( call the work of colonial adminis- tration. It means taking up the white man's burden, it means help- ing backward people to find them- selves in tin 1 modern world. Eng- land has done this work in South Africa, in Egypt; in India. Frame has done it in Algiers. We have done it in the Philippines, in Porto Kieo. This great work can lie done with- out remaining in occupation ^^\ the country thus reformed. That was our magnificent achievement in Cuba. The world expected to see us hold Cuba. We taught it to walk, and set it free. Sooner or later that is precisely what we shall do in Mexico. — June 26, 1916. THE PACIFISTS AND MEXICO There is a great deal o\ loos* thinking about the possible war with Mexico. This is Largely because of the almost universal lack id' knowl- edge of the conditions on our south- ern frontier. It is not generally known that there is no safety for American lives in the (tarts of Texas. New Mexico and Arizona that border on Mexico, and that since the over- throw of lluerta there is no man or group of men able to prevent the Mexican bandits in northern Mex- ico from murdering United States citizens on the farms and in the vil- MEXICO 375 lages in the- 1 'idled Slnlcs oear the Mexican border. II is a nniilil ion- -a serious Mini terrible condition - - thai confronts the government of the United States. The actual facts of the terrible tragedies behind the genera] state nieiil in Secretary Lansing's note of June 20 are not known to the American people. Secretary Lansing said : "It would be tedious to recount In- stance after instance, outrage after out- rage, atrocity after atrocity, to illustrate the true nature and extent <>f Hi<' wide- spread conditions of lawlessness and vio- lence which have prevailed. "During the past nine months in par ticular the frontier of the United States along the lower Rio Grande has bees thrown into a state <>i' constant appre- hension and turmoil because of frequenl arid sudden incursions into American territory and depredations and murders on American soil by Mexican bandits, who have taken the lives and destroyed the property of American citizens, some- times carrying American citizens across the international boundary with the booty seized. "American garrisons have been at- tacked at night, American soldiers killed and their equipment and horses stolen, American ranches have been raided, property stolen and destroyed and Amer- ican trains wrecked and plundered. The attacks on Brownsville, Red House Ferry, Progreso postoffice and Las Pe ladas, all occurring during September last, are typical. "In these attacks on American terri- tory Carranzista adherents and even Carranzista soldiers took part in the looting, burning and killing. Not only wore these murders characterized by ruthless brutality, but uncivilized acts of mutilation were perpetrated. Represen- tations were made to General Carranza, and be was emphatically requested to stop these reprehensible acts in a section which he has long claimed to be under the complete domination of his au- thority." A reign of terror exists to-day in the territory of the Tinted Slates contiguous to Mexico. The dangei is greai ly increased by I he fad i hat in niosl of (his territory in the United States Hie majority of the inhabitants are Mexican and these Mexicans are largely sympal liel ie with their own people. Our governmenl should publish a detailed history of the outrages on American soil. These outrages have steadily grown worse, the in- vading bandits have grown holder, as witness, for example, the tragedy of ( 'oluniluis, \ew Mexico. The rights of American citizens ill Mexico are iimpies! ioned. Kid, forgetting enl irely I he horrible story of the last three years of outrages in Mexico itself, our government has no choice in I he mallei- in protecting its citizens in its own territory. — June 21, L916. MEDIATION IMPOSSIBLE There are disputes between na- tions which can he mediated. There are other disputes which SO closely involve the honor and the vital in- terests of nations that, I hey are be- yond the scope of medial ion, no matter how well intent ioned. Something of the distinction be- tween t he two sorts of international controversies seems to have been sensed by the diplomats of those South and (Vneral American slates which have shown a desire to offer their friendly offices for the settle- ment of t he present ominous cri ill our relations with Mexico. All Latin America and the rest; of the world niiisl realize that, the affair of Carrizal, coming as the climax of a series of out rages com- mitted by Mexicans against the dig- nity of the United Slates and of its citizens, presents an issue which 376 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS must be settled directly between the United States and Mexico. No country is more anxious than the United States to cultivate friend- ly relations with Mexico. And yet, such are the present circumstances that the United States would jeop- ardize the future and make such friendly relations impossible if it did not at this grave juncture insist upon a clear and equitable settle- ment not only of the ghastly Car- rizal issue, but also of all the cumu- lative issues that lie behind it. A failure to reach a complete adjust- ment of all outstanding problems at this time would constitute a menace to the future peace of the two con- tinents. — June 28, 1916. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN LATIN AMERICA In the year-book of Trinity Par- ish, just, out, Rev. Dr. William T. Manning, rector of Trinity Church, makes a significant contribution to the controversy which has arisen out of the convening of the Panama church conference. That gathering, held in the city of Panama, has been characterized as a movement to extend Protestantism in Latin i^merica. Mr. Manning, with other members of the church mission board, exerted himself in . a vain effort to prevent the sending of delegates to the conference. In summarizing the attitude of Trinity Church toward the cause represent- ed by the Protestant rally in the heart of Catholic America, Dr. Man- ning says in the year- 1 took of his parish : It is plain that this church could not officially identify itself with such a movement without departure from her historic position and compromise of her principles. We have our deep and real difference with Rome, which cannot be minimized or disregarded. Those teach- ings of the Roman Catholic Church which are modern and un-Catholic this church has always firmly opposed. But this church stands, and has always stood, for that which is ancient and Apostolic and truly Catholic. The Catholic church has been the great colonizing and constructive force, not only in all the Latin American republics, but in Califor- nia and the southern tier of states which once formed part of Mexico. The United States government rec- ognized the continuation of the powerful influences of the Catholic church in the Philippines when it sent William H. Taft to Rome in a successful effort to bring about an adjustment of the friars' lands ques- tion. As in the Philippines, so in all the Latin American states, the ( 'atholic church is still a mighty force in the lives of the people. This is a fact which Americans in official life are sometimes prone to forget. It is a fact which should be remem- bered in our present dealings with Mexico. The eyes of Catholic Amer- ica are upon Mexico. And the im- pressions which Catholic America shall gather from our conduct in Mexico cannot fail to exert a power- ful influence upon our future rela- tions with the rest of the American republics in which the church is an effective social force. — June 28, 1916. NOW OR LATER IN MEXICO Either now or later we have a task before us in Mexico which can- not be obscured by all the clouds of MKXICO 377 incense arising from the altars of rhetoric. We are going to have to aid the distracted citizens of that country in forming and upholding a govern- ment — of Mexicans, not Americans — to maintain peace and order in their unhappy land. Perhaps the incessant outrages on our border, perhaps the slaughter of half our band of troopers at Carrizal and the imprisonment of the rest, perhaps the view of the jobless and starving masses of the native population and the abandoned or ruined mines, oil fields and plantations of Mexico — perhaps all these do Qot suffice to impel us to aid in the establishment down there of a power that can give security to our border and to the Mexicans themselves. We can post- pone but we cannot avoid this work. Let us make clear to ourselves just what this inescapable duty means for us. It certainly means nothing like the present thin col- umn of American soldiers extending south into Mexico from Columbus, a thorn in the Mexican side. This ex- pedition is an exact counterpart of the Vera Cruz expedition. Then Ave sailed down to force Ilnerfa. to sa- lute 1 the Hag; we killed many Mexi- cans, a few American soldiers, and came away with the flag unsaluted. To-day our column is in Mexico to get Villa alive or dead. It stays there inactive, not having gotten him, and not knowing whether he is alive or dead. We never get any- where. If is because we have no plan, beta use we will not face the inevitable fact of intervention. The way to pacify Mexico is first to take Mexico City. That means an expeditionary force in from Vera Cruz. When Mexico City is taken the job belongs to Gen. Leonard Wood. Let him assemble represent atives of the interests that stand for order in Mexico: The men who want to labor, the men who want to employ labor, the 60, 000 land own- ers who are in exile in the United Slates and Spain, and the church, which is such a force in Latin- American count ries. Then, pending the establishment of order, u ben elections can be held, let, there be established a. pro\ isional government backed by the United States. Our army officers should aid this government in forming and equipping an adequate military force. Our support would enable such a government to raise money — first to pacify the country, then to build railroads, harbors, irrigation works, roads, and establish schools. When such a government is in swing and elections are held, we can with- draw as we did in ( !'uba and let the Mexicans rule themselves. One thing we should need, and Mexico would need: An offensive and defensive alliance. It would eternally protect Mexico from ag- gression and forever safeguard our vulnerable southern border. Through Mexico we should soon have a pro- tected all-rail connection with Cen- tral America and the Panama canal. This, together with security for our investments in Mexico and a bound- less field for new enterprises there, is what, we should gain for ourselves, apart from the service rendered our neighbor. We are llonndering on a heavy sea. It is t ime to lake our bearings, set the sails of this Mexican issue, and steer direct into port instead of waiting to be shipwrecked some- where on the shore. — July 5, 1916. o to THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS AMERICAN DOLLARS, TOO, FOR CARRANZA? Having denounced m L913 the American bankers interested in the si\ power loan to China, and having given notice thai the new adminis- tration was sternly againsl govern- ment co-operation in such matters, we are now in formed from Washing- ton thai Secretary of State Lansing is discussing with Carranza's envoy the conditions upon which this gov- ernmenl would aid in securing from American bankers the money neces- sary to establish Carranza firmly in power. Are we to understand from these semi-official reports thai it is seri ouslv contemplated at Washington to encourage American bankers to loan Carranza money which in one w:i\ or another may be \\^\ to buy arms and ammunition with which to shool the American troops now l>o- ing mobolized on the Texas border? Is n possible thai while our War departmenl al Washington is work- ing nighl and day on train schedules hurrying thousands of our young men into camp for possible war duty againsl Mexico, our Slate depart- menl is engaged in conferences whose purpose is to secure Loans for Carranza thai are far more Likely to be permanent t han t lie peace I liat is so cautiously promised ? Nearly all the ammunition now held by Carranza "for emergencies" was shipped into Mexico by consent of this government. Is American money now lo be stored in Car- ranza's vaults by permission of this governmenl for the same "emergen- » p Can Carranza build a governmenl ? We have selected him, contrary to the views of the best-informed Mexi can people. lie does nol represent the organizing force of thai country. — July 7, 1916. cies IPSWICH, SOUTH DAKOTA I pswich is a place of ahoul 1,000 inhabitants. 1 1 is a prosperous farmers' town, so prosperous that, when Thanksgiving and Christmas come, it is hard to find B family to help. All of the hoys ride and shoot. Twenty-five of them belong lo a cavalry troop and to-day they are on the Mexican border. With these hoys gone the town is desolate, and it will he desolate until they return. Whal were they senl to the Mexi can border for? Wha1 are they sup- posed io do down there? Whal is the tangible work id' service to their country which they can perform and, by so doing, earn the riglll to return ? This is whal the people in the northwest are asking themselves. Neither in the record nor the promise of our relations with Mexico do I hey find t he answ er. I I is nol on r inlenl ion to capture Villa. We are withdrawing our troops to i he American border. We do not intend to re enter Mexico to help establish there a man and a governmenl who can extirpate an- archy in Mexico itself and along OUT southern border. We would not let lluerla do (his. We supplied firsl Villa, I hen ( 'arran/.a, with arms and ainmunit ion. 1 n spile of our arms and ammunition they were nol able to bring peace and order in Mexico. They only turned the arms againsl us. To-day we repudiate Villa, and we trust Carranza so little that we will no Longer send him arms. I f with our open support and our guns and cartridges Ik 1 was not able to MEXICO 379 rule Mexico, how can he n 1 1<- it ploymenl and the opportunity to handicapped by our deserved dis wrest, with the improved tools of the trust and shui off from getting arms white man, from an arid land their from as? sustenance in an orderly way through We will patrol our own border the work of this pioneer American, and, if Carranza will let us, follow Just as James J. Mill subjected into Mexico Mexican murderers and through his leadership and enter plunderers who cross our border to prise and through the capita] that ply their trade. Through the shim backed him the prairies of the mer heal in Texas, Ww Mexico and aorthwest to the culture of the civil- Arizona that is what the tpswich ized man, so this man had pioneered boys will do, and the hoys from a in Mexico. Three years ago disaster thousand hamlets all through the began to overtake him. The tragedy country. They are like children of the individual and the tragedy of condemned to defend themselves the nation are epitomized in the Eol againsl individual wasps and forbid- lowing letter and in the article on den to destroy the wasps' nest. In the conditions of Mexico winch we all recorded history of greal nations publish on another page of today's there was never before one that so paper. perfectly and consistently insisted Commeni is superfluous. upon disregarding facts and the in To ,,,.. BdItor o£ The Evening Mai i, escapable necessity id the case, ... , , ., 1 ■ Sir I am sorry to ihi you iha 'IM THE TRAGEDY OF MEXICO sooner or later, inere never was a | Baw you |. IS , | |,. 1VI . 8U ff e red greai piece of national policy so fabulously losses in Mexico, am my plants have fatuous and futile. July 10, L916. I "' , ' M destroyed, the machinery being broken up wantonly, my orange orchard, one <>r the besl in Mexico, cut down and all Improvements burned, my houses in * * * are all vacanl and being Twenty-five years agb an Ameri looted or doors, sash, windows, roofs and can, whose father had 'made a name ," " in * N°< a single property of mine ,, . . . . . has escaped, and I am really mined. I tor himseli as a pioneer in the open- owe it ,,,, ((( the ,„., , ratic aaminiBtra . ing of our western country, turned lion, whirl, i earnestly hope will be <\<-' his attention to Mexico. lie took feated in the nexl election. With him his own capital and inter- ' l,MV " received no1 a cehl iron, these .... , . . ' . . . | properties. <>n the contrary, I have es , • s,, '' l triends in America and hank- haU8te d myself in trying to keep my ers in Canada, in Mexican develop- people alive and exercise some lemblance ment. Willi him went, scores of mil- '" control and protection of my properly. lions Of dollars that, were used in ' * e " 5™ '''•'" klv ■''••" ""' small check ,. ,. , ,. which von senl me lor some editorial Mexico lor damming rivers, for WO rk was a God's blessing when it came, building railroads, lor irrigating Just think of it, from affluence to arid stretches and starting great penury, through no I'anii of mine and nlantation with the present administration I see n<> '....' .,' . , . r| , .. . . hope Of relief. When rresidenl Daft visited the [ am enclosing an article which I have Mexican frontier thousands of Amer- written, n only tells the truth. Yon nan Beauty roses that had bloomed " lllsl take notice of the condition of star under this man's hand in that arid rotten which now exists in Mexico and , | , ■ . I , .. is rapidly growing worse and will COH country decorated Ins tables. Many lmil( . t0 (|l) S() A ghastly tragedy js thousands of Mexicans received em- being enacted in that country and [f you 380 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS begin to set it forth in your paper you will not make a mistake. Von must bear in inincl that Mexicans :is a race are heartless and pay no heed to the Sufferings of any one. Starving women and children would not deter them from taking their last morsel of food, or in- duce them to concern themselves about their future. No effort, and hut little means, to plant exists, ami therefore there is practically nothing raised. What was planted was destroyed wantonly or killed by the drought, which has been un- precedented. 1 have come into posses- sion of many important particulars about the inside workings of the Car- ran/a government, both in Mexico City and elsewhere. Carranza is personally powerless. lie lives in a Pullman car at the railroad station and earnestly wishes to go to Yucatan, but Obregon and Cabrera, who are the real rulers, will not permit him to leave. You may rely that the de lado gov- ernment is purely a shell, unable by any ans to maintain itself, should the furor of military intervention subside. I have recent specific information from their side of the situation. Whether Wilson wants war or not — intervention is bound to come. AN AMERICAN. Texas border, July 2. -July II. I!) 16. STARVING MEXICO Dispatches from Washington tell us thai if we were to blockade Mex- ico, the country would starve iii a short time — 'not the soldiers, hut the civilian men. women and children. It is a melancholy indictment of our Mexican policy that a Earming country rich enough to support its population should ho on the verge of starvation. A country thai should feed tens of millions of people out- side its herders does noi raise enough to keep itself alive. Who will plant what lie cannot eat? Who will till the soil when the fruits of his labors merely serve to make him and his family desirable for plunder? It is better to turn plunderer oneself. When more roh and fewer produce, the food supply runs short. When (here is little left to pillage at home, there is always plenty across the American border. The United States cannot shirk part of the responsibility for this situation. We protest so loudly our love for the Mexican people, vet we refuse to \'\vv them from the succes- sive bandit leaders who prey upon (hem. Nay, we help the bandits one by one. The call to us to do our duty toward Cuba was a. whisper compared with the voice of misery and help- lessness Unit arises from Mexico. — July K\ L916. IDEALISM VS. REALITY President Wilson phrased a line hit of seniiment in his notification speech las) Sat unlay when he de- clared: "1 am more interested in the fortunes of oppressed men and piti- ful women and children than in any property rights whatever." He was speaking of Mexico at the time, de- fending his persistent refusal to give protection i<» the interests of Ameri- cans in that country or to heed their warning that the course he was pur- suing could not lead to peace. It is a lofty ideal to place the well- being of men, women and children above mere material matters — to have regard for their lives and their comforts he fore one begins to count, dollars or consider business interests. If the two purposes could be sep- arated, this would indeed he a world of idealism. The difficulty is that they cannot be separated. All human experience shows US that men, women and children are happiest and most, contented in lands where- MEXICO :wi in prosperity abides and property rights have a stability founded on alert government protection. We have do doubt that Mr. Wilson, while ;m interpreter of history be fore lie entered politics, realized fully out of his abundant reading that no nation thai Tailed to protect property rights was ever able to pro- tect, human rights. In government you cannot separate the two with" any hope of being able to afford pro- tection and encouragement to either. Mr. Wilson concedes that he ;ir bitrarily rejected every word of ad- vice and every appeal from Ameri can business interests in Mexico, and addressed himself solely to sym- pathetic co-operation with 15,000,- 000 oppressed men and burdened Women and pitiful children — all with a "passion for the fundamental right to life and happiness." Inas- much as he frankly avows it, we are bound to assume that this high pur- pose lias been in the President's mind from the time when "three weeks after he entered the White House," to use his own words, lie de- creed that Euerta should go and that Villa and Carranza should he the emancipators of a down-trodden people. Even had he resolutely fol- lowed such a policy Mr. Wilson would have failed — you cannot, bring happiness out of desolation, or life out of the solitude of death. But Mr. Wilson has not followed the ideal he has so finely phrased. As a matter of fact, he has not fol- lowed any policy long enough to call it a policy. The result is that Mr. Wilson has failed, bv deliberate re- fusal, to protect human rights. After nearly four years of "watch- ful waiting" by President Wilson, the oppressed people of Mexico for whom his heart beats so warmly, are much worse oil' than they were when be encouraged Carranza and Villa to press their ruthless and lustful warfare upon defenseless men, women and children. The net, re- sult of Mr. Wilson's altitude;, fixed "three weeks after I entered the White House," is that life as well as property in Mexico has been sac- rificed in a manner as brutal and as horrifying as the world has ever re- corded. Mr. Wilson cannot, blind his country to his base betrayal of American interests ill Mexico by a false assumption that he ha,-, aided the "fundamental rights" of the Mexican people. He has not lifted the oppressors" yoke from their necks nor slopped a single bandit's hullct on its murderous way to their hearts. No Mexican woman has found her- self safe from the ravager becau e of any act or word from Washing- ton, nor has any child lifted its eyes to future manhood with greater hope. In short, the whole story of Wil- son polities in Mexico is one of en- couragement to the destruction of property and the sacrifice of human life to the passion of bandits. — Sept. 6, L916. ANOTHER HOLD-UP Is there another bandit effort to hold up the national administration at Washington? Does Carranza insist upon a $200,000,000 loan as a, condition precedent to a real conference at New London ? Is the Wilson peace-at-any-price policy to undergo another change and become a policy of peace at a fixed price— fixed by Villa's former ally, Carranza? 582 THE GEAYEST 366 DAYS Sucli are the rumors that come from Wall street. They are to the effect that Carranza must have mil- lions or there can be no peace in Mexico, which means for us no peace with Mexico. It looks very much like another case of hold-up. Not long ago Carranza stipulated that our army must leave Mexican soil before he would treat with us. Instantly the administration's policy of "Villa, dead or alive,"' was aban- doned. Our troops turned their faces homeward. To-day for all practical purposes they are out of Mexico, and Villa again roams and pillages at his own sweet will. Car- ranza's condition has been met. Now we face a new condition — $200,000,000 loan or no peace. The administration seeks the aid of Wall street. Can it be done? it asks of the men Mr. Wilson denounced as "exploiters" only last Saturday. Will Wall street kindly hud $200,000,000 to save the nation's face at New London ? Evidently Mr. Wilson has a pas- sion for the hold-up game, whether it is played by railroad brotherhoods or by the bandit chief of Mexico. — Sept. 7, 916. OUR DUTY TOWARD A REAL MEXICO The hold-up demand of Carranza for a $200,000,000 loan from Amer- ican bankers is not the kind of a loan to Mexico which this govern- ment must ultimately encourage and indorse in some way. It is our duty and to our interest to give substan- tial aid to a stable government in that country, when such a govern- ment emerges. It is neither our duty nor to our interest to aid Carranza. He does not represent a government ; he represents only himself. For the time being he is the superior mili- tary force in his country. It is equally true, however, that no one can tell how long his power will last. No one realizes better than Carranza himself that he is likely to be dis- placed at any moment by a rehab- ilitated Villa or another "chief" of the Villa type. His government is but a shell. Its power is exercised cautiously where it is challeneged, and ruthlessly, murderously, where it feels secure. Zapata reigns su- preme in Xochomilcha, only ten miles from Mexico City. Felix Diaz occupies Oaxaca, Calles dominates Sonora. These men pay not the slightest heed to the so-called "First Chief." The Carranza lieutenants — Obregon, Cabrera and others — are constantly under suspicion of revolt, and are held together only by the ties of spoils. They have no more resrard for what President Wilson rails the "fundamental right" of the Mexican people to life and happiness than has the hunted Villa, and as little conception for its real mean- ing It is preposterous to talk of the "passion" of such men for the well- being of their countrymen, or of their murdering of men and ravag- ing of women as mere mistakes in a valiant struggle for noble achieve- ments. They are in fact the real op- pressors of the men, women and chil- dren for whose pitiful plight Presi- dent Wilson has such ■ great sym- pathy. They have made a waste of a land of plenty. In all their activi- ties the only passion that moves them is a passion for power, for plunder and for lust. There is nothing in the career of Carranza, or of any of MKXICO 383 his known lieutenants, that suggests anything else. It would be a crime against hu- manity for this country to counte- nance a loan to such a group of men. No stahle government can be built around Carranza 3 because no govern- men can long endure against the or- ganizing influences of a country. Those influences supply the leader- ship, the intelligence and the oppor- tunity for enlarging usefulness and for real advancement. They are the constructive forces on which prog- ress depends, and which unlock the treasures of mine, forest and field. When those forces come into play in Mexico, and begin to put into the background the whole caboodle of Carranzas and Villas and Obregons, there will be a real service in behalf of a rehabilitated Mexico. We should not be slow to perform it. We must not then merely indulge in pretty phrases about the passion of bandits for fundamental rights. We must act. We must openly enter into al- liance with such a Mexico — loan it money, help it open up the country, build railroads, particularly from Texas to Panama, and aid it to do all things that will develop the re- sources of the country and bring them into closer touch ' with the markets of the world. Mr. Wilson calls this exploitation; we call it civilization. It is what crossed the Mississippi half a cen- tury ago and created an empire of people, wealth and influence out of a wilderness. Nor should we aid Mexico on any pretext of "serving humanity" in any idealistic sense. Humanity is best served when it is aided to op- portunity to do for itself, when the path is blazed for it toward labor and its reward, toward education and its ennobling influences. Mexico needs the United Slates to do this for her; but the United States, in another and equally significant way, needs Mexico. It is only twenty-five years since Lord Salisbury, with an idealism as blind as Wilson's, had England cede Heligoland to Ger- many. What would England have given in midsummer of 19] I if its fighting ships had the protection of that strategic; piece ol' land? We do not want Mexico, but when a foreign war comes to us. as some day it must, we do not want Mexico as a weak nation on our border line. It might prove disatrous. Mexico is to the American continent what the Balkans are to Europe. An unstable government in Mexico might easily precipitate war on this hemisphere as the unstable government of the Balkans precipitated war in Europe. Control of Constantinople and Asia Minor had as much to do with the present war as any other one thing. The strategic value of Mexico is no less than that of Constantinople. Who holds Mexico dominates the Panama zone and much of South America. In any foreign complica- tion we might have in time to come, Mexico playing the role that Greece, for instance, has played the past two years, would be a real menace to the United States. As the willing or unwilling ally of a foreign power Mexico would be a danger to us. Now, what is the course of wis- dom for us — from our own point of view as well as from Mexico? We must be friends, allies. Neither of us can afford to be enemies. We must heed the lesson taught by the tragic consequences of all Europe's plotting with conspirators and plun- derers in the unstable Balkans, how- ever, and not endeavor to create gov- - THE GRAYEST 366 PAYS ernments by force, only to have them fall as their hollowness is revealed. Mr. Wilson has tailed utterly to real- ize that a bandit government of Mexico cannot be given a character there by tine words on his part, and cannot be made to endure so Ions as it typifies and glorifies vindictive antagonism to the only influences that can make a country other than the habitat of roaming multitudes. Mexieo. with 15,000,000 inhabi- tants, has fully 13.000.000 of Indian or partly Indian blood. It should not he necessary to say to any sensi- ble person that those 13,000,000 In- dians cannot create a government, or that they are not particularly inter- ested in doing so. Our American forefathers had that problem on their hands, and after two centuries of effort abandoned the Indian as hopeless. He had to be displaced. and he was. In Mexico there have been three dominating forces, and they have bad a wonderful influence in bring- mg her to the forefront of prosper- our nations. These influences were, first, the Spanish conquerors of years ago: second, the Roman Cath- olic Church: third, invested foreign capital. No doubt all three had their abuses. Inevitably it had to be so. Vet the good they accom- plished, the progress, material and spiritual, they stood for. far out- weighed the wrongs; and in the larger sense made Mexico what she was in the hot days o( Diaz. They developed Mexican civilization, such as it was at that time : and the con- trast between conditions in that land while those three influences domi- nated and conditions throughout the Carranza-Yilla period marks the dif- ference in the ultimate results of the two kinds of government. Ultimately the United States must identify itself with one or the other kind. Mexico cannot be per- mitted to bleed to death with this country standing indifferently aside. Mr. Wilson has chosen the side that has meant murder, destruction, idle- ness. He must not be permitted, however, to establish such a regime firmly in power by the use of Amer- ican dollars. We must not send our wealth on such an errand into any land. For a Carranzista Mexico not a dollar! For a real Mexico, mil- lions!— Sept. 8. 1010. THE FIERCE PASSION FOR RECONSTRUCTION They (the Carransistas) represent the fierce passion Cor reconstruction. — Presi- dent Wilson iu Shadow Lawu speech. Rafael Torres, general in the army of the illustrious First Chief, Hon Venustiano Carranza, was in Mexico City. He if not the public, was celebrating the occasion. Con. Torres had risen rapidly. A few years back he had been valet, but- ler, coachman, handyman about the house of gentlemen. The wars had claimed Torres and Torres had won favor in the eyes of the noble Venus- tiano. And now Gen. Torres was in Mexico City and celebrating the fact. It offended him that more at- tention was not shown to a man so distinguished. He was in a high- class restaurant. Waiters now and then opened a door to what looked like another hall. Why should there he another room, or why should it be shut off from Gen, Torn The soldier of the First Chief de- termined to ascertain. He arose, went to the door and flung it open. MEXICO 385 A party of friends was dining privately. The genera] looked at the gentle- men, stammered a bit and then pro- posed to I In- gentleman at the head of the table that ho have a drink with the general. The gentleman did not care to drink. "Vmi will not drink with 'me, (!en. Torres? Why will you not drink with me?" the valet, butler, coachman-soldier demanded. "I have a headache and do not wish to drink," ihe gentleman re- plied. "This will cure your headache," (Jen. Torres said as he drew a re- volver li red and the gentleman propped dead in his chair. Gen. Torres's passion for recon- struction is fierce. — tfept. 15, lDlh'. A MEXICAN EXILE'S VIEW OF THE MEXICAN PROBLEMS [ NOTE — The writer of this letter ia a Mc.rican exile, owner of a moderate- sized plantation, who has hud European training and possesses a broad, cultured outlook. Like other Mexicans, his prop- erties have been despoiled his animals driven away, his buildings burned down and he himself has been driven out of the country to live in exile until the re- turn of settled conditions. His identity is concealed out of fears for the safety of his relatives in Mexico. — Ed. To the Editor of The Evening Mail: Sir — It is particularly comforting 1o have you state the facts regarding Mr. Wilson's preposterous and per- sistent assertion that the anarchy reigning in Mexico for the last five and a half years is the noble struggle of a people for its liberties. The struggle has been that of a cowardly minority of bandits and jailbirds in a race to loot and murder and out- rage women. Quite as ridiculous is the declaration that Carranza has established any sort of a govern- ment — "de hecho" or "de derecho." Carranza is nothing but the mas- ter bandit, who, having robbed more methodically and successfully than his rivals, has gained some ascend- ancy over them, and his recognition as a de facto government is nothing but a premium on successful ban- ditry. The magnitude of Carranza's and Obregon's looting operations in Mexico City, after they entered it on the strength of a treaty to respect Ihe lives and properties of the in- habitants, can best be estimated by Ihe fact that they took out of the city 1,300 railway carloads of fur- niture, antiquities, works of art, libraries, etc., and this explains in part how the imports from Mexico into the United States actually in- creased from $77,612,691 in 1914-15 to $97,676,544 in 1915-16 (June 30). 1 say "in part," because the organ- ized and systematic pillage was not by any means confined to the eapi- tol and its suburbs. All the country where the Carranzistas held their temporary sway was subjected to a similar treatment. At the present day there is nothing left to rob, and so the first chief bandit sends his robber commissioners to try and saddle unfortunate Mexico with a debt of $250,000,000; not to recon- struct the country but simply to feather their own nests. That such a thing should even be discussed here is outrageous, for the men pretending io arrange it repre- sent nothing but the chiefs of a fac- tion that is not only a small minority in their country but is the most hated faction of all those in the field. They therefore represent 386 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS nothing but their own greed i'or the chattels of the people whoso re- sources they are Irving to barter in exchange for a loan intended to benefit none but themselves. Only a thorughly representative government could assume such a debt, and when such a government is established in Mexico it could not in justice be held responsible for it. It is grotesque, in the lace of facts any one can ascertain, to assert that these men, or indeed any Mexican revolutionists, "represent at least the fierce passion of reconstruction" j they represent exactly the opposite, a fierce passion (the term is perfect) for destruction, and they have never pretended anything else. Obregon in one of his bombast it' manifestos last year said he preferred Lo see Mexico ''turned into a huge cemetery than see it in the hands of the 're- action.' ' He has lived up to this principle. It is the same with all of them — Villa, Zapata, etc. 1 know what 1 am talking about, for friends and myself have just spent the last year in Morelos, and we have ridden through what, was once the garden of Mexico, through our one time model plantations, and we base seen nothing but ruin and desolation — not a corn plot in the great fields, not a head of cattle on the ranges, not a soul in the deserted and burned villages. I wish the poor people of Mexico could be made to vote as to what they would sooner have — the "op- pression" of the old davs or the "liberty" of to-day. "Maldita revo- lucion !" the Zapatista women would often cry in the streets of Cuantala. It is not true there existed an un- quenchable yearning for land among the "peons." That is one of the fables with which the American pub- lic (and the Mexican town folk to some extent) has been ^i'cd up" against all facts. I doubt if there is any country in America where in proportion to its population there are so many small agricultural hold- ings as there are in Mexico. If any proof is needed that the working man in Mexico does not pine for the land there are our haciendas in Morelos. where the storm center of the agrarian unrest is supposed to have started, with their matchless irrigated lands un- claimed and untilled, though com- mission after commission has tried to divide them up among country folk who will have nothing to do with them. "Who told you we wanted land?" I once 'heard some women ask a Zapatista. "We want food and work, and to be as we were before." fore." The agrarian commissions when offering the land to the people in- variably met with the same reply, "We don't want land. We want the haciendas to start working again, SO that wo may earn our living as We used to." What you say about Oarranza, not daring to show his face without a guard of soldiers is exactly true. No faction is so thoroughly hated as Carranza's. A T illa. and Zapata pos- sibly have still a few misguided sympathizers — Oarranza has none except his immediate followers. He made himself hated by every class, by every institution, from the out- set ; he disarmed and disbanded the old federal army, heaping contumely on its officers j he put into the street all governmenl employes, ineluding those of the national lines, some 30,- 000 of them ; he dismissed all the MEXICO 387 school teachers; he drove the com- merce, bag and small, to despair; he bullied the bankers; he persecuted the foreign colonies, deporting hun- dreds of their members, among whom were some diplomats; in the churches his hordes committed un- told indecencies and sacreliges; he drove out, tortured and murdered priests, while nuns were indescrib- ably outraged by his men — let no- body conn- to 1ell us the last state- ment is anything but a solemn, hideous truth. . Let us piously believe you are right when you say that perhaps if Mr. Wilson could see Mexico as it is to-day as a result of his mistaken policy he would be moved to act. But what is beyond doubt is that it is not war that Mexico needs, nor could there be such a thing with the Mexi- can people unarmed and starving. What is wanted is a work of rescue from and protection against the prowling wolves that now de facto oppress the helpless population. You cannot conceive to what an extent all classes are longing for this rescue and say so openly. "Quen vengan los Americanos" is the universal prayer — it is secretly offered up in the churches. Nor is the talk of rescue going to be the sanguinary fight some people here think and the blustering revo- lutionist make believe; on the con- trary, if it is properly organized, it is going to be an easy, pleasant task — I might almost say a triumphal march. The bandit chiefs won't be long in seeing the unfortunates who have been obliged by threats and by hun- ger to follow desert them by hun- dreds. Not shells and bullets but food and kind treatment will win the day. Already the behavior of your troops in Vera Cruz is known in all the country, for the Veracruz- anos proclaim it from the housetops that they never had. a better time than during the months of the American occupation. There is one point upon which I must join issue. It is not fair to [ml Felix Diaz in the same boat as Villa, Zapata and Carranza. Neither my friends nor myself have ever taken any part in politics, nor are we Felieistas, hut we must recognize that there is an abyss between Felix Diaz and the three others. lie is neither a, robber or a mur- derer. Ife certainly failed in the two attempts he has made in over- coming the robbers' "revolution," but if you Americans have definitely determined to allow the Mexican people to fight out its destinies — an awful prospect — Diaz is the only "white; hope" in sight and we will have to support him. He has the right ideas and his stay in the United States has done him no end of good as indeed, is the case with the hun- dred thousand Mexicans who have been obliged to seek refuge in this country. If the revolution had no other ad- vantage (it is difficult to see any other) its taking so many Mexicans out of their narrow existence will have been an untold blessing — it will have made "traveled men" of them. When they return to their devastated homes they will be different beings, their horizons widened, their aspira- tions extended. I think we must watch Felix Diaz; he is doing ex- ceedingly well, we know. The pop- ulation, amazed at armed forces re- specting lives and property, are re- ceiving him with enthusiasm. — Sept. 15, 1916. 388 THE GBAVEST 366 DAYS THE FIERCE PASSION FOR RECONSTRUCTION They (the Carianiistas) represent the fierce passion for reconstruction. — Presi- dent Wilson in Shadow Lawn speech. Mexico gives credit, to Geu. Yen- ustiano Carranza for superlative ability. He has set a mark it will be difficult for other reformers to reach. In time of revolution he has made the nation's exports in- crease. He has swelled his war chest. He has done remarkable things. Don Yenustiano began his great work of reconstruction by dismiss- ing the school teachers of Mexico. To cut down expenses he stripped all the federal departments of type- writers, furniture, tapestries, etc. These were shipped to Vera Cruz, exported and sold. Of the School of Mines and the Department of Agriculture he left the walls. For some reason he did not take the paintings out of the national gal- lery. Such cattle as remained were driven from the fields to Vera Cruz, sold or exported. Furniture of wealthy Mexicans was taken because it would do more good in the cause of reconstruction than in the house- holds of the owners. There was one shipment of fifty-seven carloads of such furniture io Vera Cruz. The exports of the republic showed a gratifying increase. Mexico is being reconstructed most thoroughly. There formerly were three classes, the rich, the middle, and the poor. Now there are but two. the robbers aud the robbed. There is no sign of Don Venus- iiano's tierce reconstruction passion abating. Sept. 18. 1916. THE FIERCE PASSION FOR RECONSTRUCTION They (the Carranzistasl represent the tierce passion for reconstruction. — Presi- dent Wilson in Shadow Lawn speech. Figuratively the right hand of His Excellency Don Yenustiano Carranza is Gen. Obregon, aud the left hand is Gen. Pablo Gonzales. Obregon we know about. Gon- zales has not been in the interna- tional limelight so much, but he has been governor of Mexico City, and lately of the state Morelos. which is the richest part of Mexico. The power, the influence of Gon- zales is great. turn. Gonzales has a nephew, who is much like the general in charac- ter. The nephew was a hostler, roustabout, drinking resort banger- mi before civil war gave opportunity for his high talent. One form in which the tierce pas- sion for reconstruction manifested itself with the nephew of the gen- eral was in desire to possess Sehora Feleciaha Gutierrez, one of the most respected and charming young wom- en of Mexico City. Senora Gutier- rez's father-in-law. Sehor Zetna, is a manufacturer of high rank and is known as the "Ford'* o( Mexico. That a good, pure woman should be horror stricken at his advances incensed the nephew of Carrau.:a's left hand. To teach a lesson to others of her kind he rode out to the Bosque de Chapultepec. and, waiting there until Senora Gutier- rez, as was her daily custom, took her automobile drive along the fa- mous avenue through the woods of Chapultepec, he shot her to death. The nephew oi the brave Gen. Gonzales is still at large and still has a tierce passion for reconstruc- tion.— Sept. 19, 1916, Japan JAPANS WORDS AND HER DEEDS The archives of the State depart- ment at Washington contain a let- ter written to Klihu Koot, when he was Secretary of Slate, by Baron Kogoro Takahira, Japanese ambas- sador to the United Slates in 1908. That letter was written at a psychological moment. At that time Japanese-American relations were undergoing a strain. The anti-Japanese agitation in Cali- fornia was approaching an eruptive Btage. There was a feeling in Amer- ica that Japanese policy in China was not in harmony with America's desire that China should have an opportunity to achieve her own des- tiny without interference from for- eign sources. America feared that the "open door." enunciated by John Hay. might he closed by Japan. Rumors of aggressive purposes by Japan in the great country across the Yellow sea were finding wide circulation in the American press. To restore confidence in its pur- poses the Japanese government, through Baron 'Takahira. submitted a draft of its understanding o\' the spirit and aims of existing agree- ments between the United States and Japan. The Japanese ambas- sador wrote as follows, among other things : They (the two governments) are de- termined to preserve the common inter- ests of all powers in China by supporting by all pacific moans at their disposal tin- independence and integrity of China and tlie principle of equal opportunity for commerce and industry of all nations in that empire. Should any event oecur threatening the stains quo as above described or the principle of equal opportunity as above defined, it remains for the two govern- ments to communicate with each other in order to arrive at an understanding as to what measures they may consider it useful to take. lias Japan kept these pledges? hid Japan respect the independ- ence and integrity of China when, under -tie-- of armed force, Takio compelled Pekin in 1!)15 to accept a. series of fourteen demands which included : The appointment of Japanese politi- cal, financial ami military advisors for China? The granting of special rights to Ja- pan in inner Mongolia? The granting of a monopoly to the llanyeh -Tins Steel Company after it had been banded over to Japanese control? Were these events such as would threaten (he "status quo" as defined in Japan's pledge? And did Japan, in accordance with the plain lan- guage of the Takahira Letter to Mr. Root, communicate with this gov- ernment for the friendly action sug- gested in that communication ? Since the above acts by Japan, plainly aimed at the destruction, not only of the open door principle but also of the status quo in China, Japan, with Russia's consent, has taken further aggressive steps in 390 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS China. The new demands presented at Pekin by Tokio include: The appointment of Japanese military advisers for the Chinese army in South- ern Manchuria and Eastern Mongolia. The recognition of "special interests" for Japan in Inner Mongolia and South- ern Manchuria, comprising powers of police and administration, preference in loans and in the selection of all foreign advisers. The appointment of Japanese military instructors in all Chinese schools and colleges. These further demands can mean only one thing, if they mean any- thing at all. They mean the firm establishment of Japanese military, financial and police power in Inner Mongolia and Southern Manchuria, and an extension of Japanese influ- ence in all the schools in China. Did Japan regard these new meas- ures of domination in China as in- imical to the status quo as well as the open door in thai country? And did the Japanese government notify Washington in advance of its in- tended proceedings, in accordance with the spirit and the letter of the Takahira pledge? Or did the United States find it necessary, after the publication of the news of Japan's latest aggres- sion, to inquire at Tokio as to the meaning of the new move, only to receive in response the usual Jap- anese denial of sinister motives in its dealings with China? The situation in its latest aspects concerns us closely. The adminis- tration at Washington is creating a problem of increasing seriousness for its successors. Thomas F. Mil- lard, in his notable book. "Our Cast- em Question," points out the fact that a Japan intrenched in China would be more difficult to deal with ten years from now than she is now. In this vast game with destiny Time is Japan's ally. Will America suffer the game to go on to its logi- cal conclusion?— Sept 19, 1916. JAPAN AND THE BALKANS One of the impressive develop- ments of the world war is the effect it has had of bringing into direct contact nations and races separated by oceans and by hemispheres. Two ago, a years ago, or even a year clash between Japan and Bulgaria would have been regarded as an impossible event. To-day Japan is seriously considering the advisabil- ity of dispatching an army to the Balkans to resist Bulgaria's attack upon Serbia, whose fate was of no possible concern to Tokio a year ago. The discussion in Tokio is symp- tomatic of Japan's anxiety to take a direct part in European affairs in their present state o( confusion. If Japan lands an army in the Balkans, she will place the powers of the quadruple entente under a heavier obligation than they have , vet in- curred. That obligation must be discharged in some substantial fash- ion — and what quid pro quo could be more substantial and more wel- come to the Japanese than a pledge of "hands off" in the event of a further development of Japan's am- bitions? Such a triumph of Japanese diplo- macy in the present crisis might prove a matter of concern to the American people in the event of any vital difference of opinion that might arise between Washington and Tokio in the future — and Tokio is not nearly as tar from Washington, as facilities of communication go, as it is from Sofia. Thus a disturb- ance in the Balkans echoes around JAPAN 391 the world and makes itself felt in America. — Oct. 14, 1915. THE JAPANESE IN CHINA Before Japan agrees to the estab- lishment of a monarchy in China she will require from the Chinese government a substantial guarantee. This guarantee will be. summarized in the following form : 1. China must guarantee to Japan that the new monarchy shall be under Japanese protection, ami that Japan shall enjoy the right of the most favored nation. 2. Japan must have a voice in Chinese military matters, and also must get the orders for the supply of munitions of war. 3. Japan must have better treatment in the distribution of official positions in the customs and salt monopoly services. 4. Group five of the China-Japanese agreement:, the clauses of which were left over in abeyance, must he taken up. f>. I'reference must be given Japanese when China is appointing advisers. Ja- pan will certainly not tolerate any monarchical movement to come to a head unless her claims and her future advan- tages have been fully guaranteed. —From a periodical published at Tientsin, in China. The foregoing is additional evi- dence, if additional evidence were needed, of Japan's determination to obtain a preferential position in Chinese markets and in Chinese pub- lic affairs. Such a position inevit- ably would involve the closing of the open door and the defeat of the policy established by John Hay — a policy which the present administra- tion at Washington has abandoned. How is the principle of equal op- portunity for American trade in China to be safeguarded? Will the future of our trade in that great market be left to the good will of Japan and her ally. Great Britain, or Mill the United States, by the adoption of a more vigorous foreign policy and by adequate military and naval preparations, put itself in a position to make its Legitimate in- terests respected, not only by Japan but by all the world? These are vital questions. — Dec. 20, 1915. THE NEW MENACE OF JAPAN Japan is evidently determined to destroy the last remaining vestige of Chinese sovereignty and to ab- sorb China in fact if not avowedly. The inexorable character of the ex- tortions which Japan is practicing upon its neighbor is indicated by the renewal of the seven demands upon Pekin which were deferred a year ago when China, finding herself bereft of friends, accepted the re- mainder oi' the conditions exacted from her by the Japanese. These seven demands, now pressed afresh by the Foreign office at Tokio, are designed to complete the work of subjugation which was begun last January. The employment by China of Japanese "advisers" in all departments of the government; the pledge that China shall purchase most of her war munitions from Japan; the employment of Japanese as directors of police in all large centers, and the construction of Jap- anese railroads in China, can mean only one thing— the slamming tight of the "open door" which John Hay established as the dominating prin- ciple in the relations of China with the rest of the world. The diplomacy which accomplish- ed this result was based upon a realization of America's future on the Pacific. The eyes of John Hay 393 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS looked far. He realized clearly that the teeming millions of the yellow race, united under the rigid rule of Japan, would form a mighty javelin of destruction, with Nippon as its sharp point, directed against the United States. He saw that the day would come, unless the all-de- vouring ambition of Japan were curbed, when the yellow race would press for the domination of the Pa- cific. The westward trend o( Amer- ican civilization and development, he foresaw, would inevitable bring- about a conflict with the eastward movement of Japan — if a free hand were given to that aggressive empire. John Bay's open door dictum, ac- cepted by all the nations at the time, constituted the "thus far shalt thou go and no further" to Japanese encroachment It aimed to secure the United States against a back- door attack by a far more numerous power. If it had been made a fixed feature o( a continuing American policy, backed by a sufficient show of force to command respect, it would have solved peaceably one of the most ominous problems that con- front the American people. Hut all that John Hay huilded for the security of his country now faces final destruction by a stroke of the Japanese pen. If the seven demands now advanced by Japan at Pekin are exacted from China, a portentous chapter in American his- torv will be begun. — Jan. '•?". 1916. THE BREAK Associated Tress correspondence tells of a denunciation o( the Anglo- Japanese alliance on the part o( a considerable section o( the Japanese press. It is represented that the in- terests of the two countries are al- ready diverging and that it is time to untie. The Japanese want pre- ponderance in Chinese markets, and eventually want India, these de- nouncers say. England stands in the way. She also blocks the way to expansion on the islands of the Pacific, in especial Australia. Aus- tralia and Canada exclude the citi- zens o( England's ally, and this cuts the Japanese pride. The alliance with England was made in the early days of this century, when the Rus- sian colossus threatened alike India, Manchuria and Korea. The alliance served its purpose in the Russo-Jap- anese war. Russia is no longer a military colossus. The peril is gone which bound the white and yellow man together and obscured their fundamental economic rivalry. So say these Japanese. What they say is to be taken with a grain of salt. It sounds like the voice o( professors and military men educated in Germany. It is not the voice o( official Tokio. Bui official Tokio may be allowing or even en- COUraging the utterances as an ex- hibition to divert our attention from consideration o( the American peril so clearly outlined in the President's Kansas City speech Last Wednesday: Look at the great swoop of our coasts. Mind you, this war has engaged all tho rest of tho world outside of South America ami tho portion of North Amer- ica occupied by the United States, and if tins flame begins to creep in on us, it may, my follow citiiens, creep in toward both coasts, and there are thousands upon thousands of miles of coast. No, the Anglo- Japanese alliance will not break now. It is too valua- ble to the English in their pending negotiations with us. It is too val- liable lo Japan in her ambitions on the Pacific— Feb. 9, 1916. JAPAN 393 OUR DUTY IN THE PHILIPPINES An abandonment of the Philip- pines to their fate by the arbitrary setting up of a theoretical Filipino independence would constitute an international crime. William How- ard Taft is performing a public service in calling attention to the fact that there is enough latent ex- plosive power among the hetero- geneous peoples of the archipelago to precipitate a disastrous upheaval at the present moment, were it not for the strong hand of the Ameri- can administration. The islands once evacuated by the Americans, such an upheaval may be regarded as a certainty. If the boon of independence is to be granted to the Filipinos, they should be trained for self-govern- ment by a steady policy of political tuition, independent of the changes in party control at Washington, im- plying reversal of purposes toward the islands. In one respect the Japanese prob- lem is akin to the Philippine prob- lem. If we are to deny to the Japanese thai freedom of inter- course with America to which they emphatically regard themselves en- titled by reason of their civilization and achievements, then we must prepare — and prepare earnestly — for the clash which such a policy will inevitably provoke. If we are not prepared to face the hazards in- separable from the continuance of an attitude toward Japanese immi- gration which the Japanese, even of the lower classes, regard as insult- ing, then we should back down gracefully while there is yet time and accord to the Japanese people the freedom of entry into this coun- try which all the Caucasian nations enjoy. Whether in our contact with the Japanese or the Filipinos, the future is fraught with danger unless we adopt a definite, elean-eut policy and continue that policy, no matter what party is in power at Washington or what individual is in control in the State department. A nation without a policy is like a ship without a rudder. — Feb. 10, 1916. OUR OPPORTUNITY IN CHINA When the Chinese have reached the point where they will consume as many American products per capita as Can- ada, the United States could export to China products worth $1,000,000,000 a yeax. Those possibilities arc not mere creatures of the imagination, hut are capable of actual realization. And your financier, as well as your manufacturer, enjoys the good will of the Chinese peo- ple, just as they enjoy yours ; and good will is a sure guarantee for successful business. — Wellington Koo, Chinese min- ister to the United States. China's resources have only been scratched on the surface. It is not difficult to realize that, with the de- velopment of those resources by or- ganized industry on a modern basis, that vast population of more than 300,000,000— the greatest popula- tion inhabiting any geographically continuous country — will attain a purchasing power approaching that of our northern neighbor. China is a growing market — and America, as Wellington Koo points out, has been relegated during this period of growth from second place to a poor third among the powers which have trade relations with that country. This is the psycho- logical moment for American trade 394 THE GEAYEST 366 DAYS to recover the ground it has lost. The productive machinery of Eu- rope is largely absorbed in the do- mestic needs of war and peace. China, through her official spokes- man in America, appeals to Ameri- can capitalists and producers to avail themselves of the opportunity to aid in the development of China's resources and to take their propor- tionate share in the supplying of its need-. Will the State department see to it that this opportunity is safe- guarded under existing international agreements, or will it tolerate the Japanese policy of exclusive com- mercial, investment and political ad- vantages for Japan, which can have only one outcome — the shutting tight of the door which John Hay. with eyes that saw far into the fu- ture, sought to open wide to all the world, including his own country. — Feb. 11. 1916. A PICTURE NOT TAKEN Here is a word-picture of a pic- ture which those who saw refused to take with a camera. It shows, more plainly than a thick book could describe, the barrier of skin- color that has held the world apart. Gerald Morgan wrote this little de- scription in the New Republic- Ten years ago I was present at some fighting near 203-Meter Hill outside of Port Arthur. We were a party of some ten war correspondents. At dawn we were awakened with the news that a Russian captain had been taken prisoner, and were asked whether we would like to photograph him. The correspondents were men of no achievements, the ma- jority dependent on small' salaries. No one had had the chance to photograph a Russian prisoner before. It was in most cases a matter of bread-and-butter. The men were of all nationalities. I remem- ber how excitedly they fished out their cameras from underneath their cots. We all ran out. and there, sitting very gravely in the sun, was an old bearded quarter - master - captain, transferred through shortage of officers to the line. A dozen grinning Japanese soldiers sur- rounded him. They were not grinning to be disagreeable, but to be polite. But they were yellow, and he was white and a prisoner in their hands. Every single correspondent — Norwegian, Canadian, American, even the German Jew — stopped, slung his camera, and turned away, as though the action had been re- hearsed. Not one man took that picture. There you have one side of the yellow race question in a nutshell. "All men are created equal." says the Declaration of Independence, and America lias added the mental reservation : '"if their skins are white." Call it prejudice or call it caste, the result is the same — we put our cameras back in the case. We are not the only nation that lias refused to accept the yellow races as equal, but that is no reason why we should not look the matter squarely in the face and act as if there were no other white nations. It is important to look at it, be- cause it looms up larger every year. Even now there is another immigra- tion bill before Congress, with the usual puzzle as to the best way to bar Japanese and Chinese without violating the rights which they have under our treaties with the oriental nations. Let us assume that Congress will wriggle through. What about the future? We must look at the pic- ture from the point of view of the grinning Japanese soldiers who were not photographed. We need not in- terview a soldier, but a man who represents modern Japan — Prof. Kambe, of the Kyoto Imperial Uni- versity. He understands the feeling JAPAN 395 of caste that separates the races and the injured pride of his own coun- try, and he is t>] unt about the remedy : It is clear that our only hope among the white races is power ; if we are only strong enough, and then only can we move freely from country to country as convenience serves. Japan must be de- termined to uphold mid promote justice, come what may! Even a child can un- derstand whom we are addressing. The people of America may consider the Ja- panese- American question as ended sonic few years ago, but we Japanese do nil think so. The people of America do not seem to understand the height and the depth of our national and racial pride Japan is under terrific pressure from within. With a population more than half thai of the United Stales, she has a territory only the size of Montana. Her progress in the last fifty years has been marvel- ous. Her national pride is intense. She wants a place iii the world, but the white nations have held her back. When she seemed to go too far in China, white nations have stepped alongside, ostensibly to "help" her, but really to see that she did not go too far. She has not been permitted to enter the great war except as a munil ions-maker for Russia. Her white allies do not wish to be under too great obligations. She is not having her picture taken ''in white company." The problem of Japan's future is as delicate for the white world as it is important to Japan. It is a big problem and it is the miserable fact that America has been side-stepping it. Japan, for instance, wants the Philip) lines. There would be two open courses for us to take. We could give or sell the Philippines to Japan, or we could — if we were pre- pared to fight — hold them against her. I f we were to go to war to- morrow, it is likely that Japan would get the islands and keep them. It would be a bitter lesson to us, but it would silence the imbe- ciles who are yelling against prepa- ration. But we are taking neither of these courses. We are preparing to crown the Filipino with the silk hat of independence before he has Learned to wear trousers. We are going to drop a burden which even Spain did not lav down until she could do it gracefully. Japan perhaps doe- not hope soon to break down the racial I larriers be- tween her and the white world. But she doe- hope to rule — and quickly — the far East. If -he cannot be a part of the great world, she will try to have a gretit world of her own. Our course, not Japan's, is the important thing for us to contem- plate. Tinkering with immigration bills and treaties will not serve us long. We must lay on the table either a deed of gift — or a sword. — ■ Feb. 1 I, 1916. HOLLAND AND THE PHILIPPINES The pro-pert of the abandonment of the Philippines by the United State- is causing apprehension in the Netherlands. Hendrick Colijn, who is regarded as one of the lead- ing European authorities on Malay colonial administration, predicts that the establishment of an inde- pendent government at Manila would certainly bring about "most serious consequences — not only in the Philippines but all over the orient — in the possessions of Euro- pean powers." Holland is anxious for the con- 396 THE GRAVEST 366 PAYS tinuance of American power in the archipelago. There is a conviction at Dhe Hague that the undisputed preponderance of Japan, allied with Great Britain, in Asiatic waters would carry menace to the Patch overseas empire, with its area of 736,400 square miles and its popu- lation of almost 40,000,000, Since the opening of the world struggle which evoked the specter of Japa- nese control in the far Bast — a con- trol which presumably would be un- hampered by interference, from British quarters Holland has been reaching out for a co-partner for the defense of mutual interests in Asia. The naval programme sponsored hv the conservative party provides for the creation of a new tleet of six dreadnoughts for the defense oi Java and Maderio. the islands of Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes and the minor archipelagos which constitute Dutch possessions in Malaysia. This naval force is designed to co-operate with the only possible power pos- sessing a community oi dcion^a- in- terest in Asiatic water, to repel the first attacks while the main strength oi that power — the United States — Could reach the scene of the struggle. The retention of her dominion m \-ia means much to Holland. A large share oi her prosperity has its source in the possessions which the Hutch have been developing since the close of the fifteenth century, and of a Large part of which they have been gradually stripped by European rivals, notably England. Now that the remnant o\' these pos- ticus has reached the height o\ industrial organisation and pro- ductiveness. Holland sees the fruits o( her labors and sacrifices endan- gered by Japan's acquisitive in- stincts. And she is seeking to pro- tect herself against the hazards of the future. Holland's view of the proposed setting up oi an independent state in the Philippines, and the possible effects of such a step on the desti- nies of European dominions in Asia, is worthy of consideration from the standpoint oi American interests. The breakdown of public order in the Philippines under a native ad- ministration, and the consequent oc- cupation of the archipelago by a European power, or by Japan, un- der the time-honored pretext of re- establishing tranquility, would con- stitute events which the United States could not ignore. Such eventualities would involve far- reaching commercial and political results, destructive to legitimate American trade interests.— Fc'r. lo. 1916, JAPAN MASTERING THE PACIFIC The enterprising Japanese, ever on the sharp lookout for the door of opportunity, are fast becoming mas- ters oi the carrying trade oi the Pa- cific The flag oi the rising sun. which is to be seen with increasing frequency even in New York harbor, now tloats from the tatTrails of most o( the ships plying the ocean high- ways between America and Asia. An American shipper who has a cargo o\' manufactured goods which he wishes to send to Asia must send it in a Japanese vessel. There is hardly a choice. Germany is out of the came Great Britain is en- crossed in transportation problems nearer home. America is sound asleep. So the Manila merchant who JAPAN :w7 IS looking Por B vessel to send a shipload of tobacco or hemp or sugar to (lie Seal <>!' empire in America must semi it in ;i Japanese carrier. Transportation between America mid the Philippines is falling ex- clusively info the hands of the Ja- panese. We talk of a Philippine policy. What colonial policy binding Ampr ica with the Philippines can there he when the very means of coiuinnnica- tion between ns :ind our t rans- Paciflo possession are owned and controlled by ;i foreign power whose interests are directly opposed to ours? March I. L916. JAPANS NEW POSITION The fall of Tsing-Tau made Ja- pan a world power. By defeating Russia on Manchurian battlefields ;md iii the waters of Tsushima, Japan became thedominanl force in the Orient. By aligning herself with the Entente mid ousting Ger- many from her Asiatic possession, Japan issued from the pent-up Uiica of her oriental position and took her place in the councils of the western powers in all matters that mighl a^- \\\'\ not onlv Asia but. Kmrope and Africa as well. Count Okuma, the premier o\' the island empire. gives striking ex- pression to Japan's new aspirations under tin* changed world conditions. This statesman, frank as lie is far- seeing, may be pardoned for the note of exultation which be betrays in the course of mii article entitled "Japan's New Position in World Diplomacy," in the Nipponese mag- azine, New Japan, lie says: Japan, which half a century apo was an Insignificant and nunc island empire, Isolated in a corner of the extreme east. has now Ix-romo one of the world's powers Mild eome lo SVVII.V II great ill- iiuenee. Japan finds herself with 6 DAYS Ho has studied ,1 a panose - Q in the only i\ can be stu suc- cessfully and W ►fitahly— in Japan. As to the foeho the Japanese toward \- Mv Millard has this to say : .lust now the Japanese feel a livol> antioa:h> and contempt for this country, its institutions and its ens, utd b] ■ ealeulatad process bave Kvh ttdvtcaxtttd to regard our n:\tion as Japan's i [onist in the series of wars ro- red to es - the hegemony of tho tar Bast and - the Pacific in Japan's keeping. As to Japan's prob aaial s in nture — the dirt q of the pressure which her in- \ ting upon her -the - nu- writj writes: u- of Japan's efforts to ea and Manchuria and in China is that, notwith- Standinf their government has main- many unjust preferential condi- s for them in comparison with Ooreans ami Chinese, Japanese emigra- tion to tho continent of Asia is a failure, » * * lu fp - rea and China. Japanese find that the? have trans- planted themselves to an even lov standard of living than obtains in Ja pan; that is. to a more cramped e aomic field and not a wider one* To the millions of Japan's peasantry China offers no Inre and little op] t unity of betterment Mr. Milia a irst-hand observe tkms, which *>rne out bj entire trend oi Japanese thought ami feeling at home, as revealed by by numerous utterances in the Ja] nese press and bj Japanese public men, emphasiies the t'aot that ele- ments which work for war exist in the relations between tho United S ates and Japan. These elements arv a deliberately promoted auu- Amovuan sentiment and the pos- session h\ America of ?as quanti- land, with high standards of living, toward which tho Japanoso people are pressed by thou- net es, No Japanese can I that ho is not on an equal footing in America « th individuals of European rat whom ho has do in battle No Japanese can forget on this side of tho Pat - rich country of prac- ally unlimited resources, while ho - doomed to scramble pitfully a scanty at homo. We will fail to realise only at our .1 tho passions pride and o\ — :\ that are rinjj in tho souls of fifty million Japanese hin a steaming distance of ton davs from tho Qolden Crate, — •;. L91 TWO WAYS WITH JAPAN In his speech at St. Louis Mayor Mitchel said verj bluntly what a at many Americans have been thinking about tho Japanese; Our interests and theirs axe over drawing closer to conflict in the Pacific" Whether it is politic tor a public official, enthusiastic though ho ho for preparedness, to sa\ this tit a public speech, is another matter, Tho fact remains that tho day of a showdown with Japan comes nearer and nearer, are two w ays to moot that daj Tho first way, tho big way, in- res tho assumption by tho United Statos of ho- as a world in- fluence. If she were prepared, de- fensively and industrially, tho oims- tion of tho Philippines — which is tho heart of tho Japanese question — would bo simple to answer. She could say: "1 am going to coo to •JAPAN 309 the Philippines the finest govern- ment that any colony baa ever en- joyed. I am going to make if. an example of the white mini's benevo- lent domination. I shall not exer cise a tyrannical or sel fish al I if ude toward the islands or any other part of the orient. Japan shall have the trade opportunities in the Philip- pines to which she is enl Ltled hy her progressive civilization, hut she shall have i( tiol because we fear her but because we admire her and appre ciate her needs." The second way, the smaller way, is the way which it seems we iiiusl adopl if we do nol care to rouse our- self to world influence. This way will involve saying to Japan that she may have the Philippines for a price. \\'h;i! the price would be i- specula- l ive. Besides cash, it rnighl include a treaty which would secure our commercial rightw in t he Orient. Un- less we welcomed dishonor, it would include a pledge of the proper t reat incut of the Filipinos. And there Le a 7'nh. For the first t ime in history a Christian nation would be turn- ing over ;i ( Ihristian people to the mercy of ;i noii-( 'hrist ian mition. Which step we shall take must be decided soon. Japan's growth will not wait upon our let hargy. The choice is pressing upon our mition. In the ringing Lines of Kipling; Take up the White Mini's burden Yi- (hoc not sloop to less — Nor cnii too loud on Freedom To cloak your weariness. March 6, L916. ADRIFT The Philippines are to be given up, set adrift like the infant Moses on the waters, until Pharaoh's daughter, Nippon, adopt,-; t,he help- li child. The United State | M brought to the islands an Orderly development, of industry and transportation. Per- sonal thrift and education have been inculcated. A small beginning has been made in teaching the natives that mutual respect, ami self-re- .-Irainl which go with liberty and in- dependence. Great economic values to the I Inited Stales have heen fostered and brought to fruition. Now, what, we have sown, the reapers from the Land of the Rising Sun shall har- vest,. We disavow a union that, is. of ad vantage to both the Philippine and ourselves. I n this country, for ex- ample, we raise no coarse fibers, such as hemp, jute and sisal. Si-.d we gel from Yucatan. Its sale to u |g in the hands of a monopoly, financed by American capital. Yu- catan J.-* prepared to squeeze the American sisal buyers. At the same time we prepare to throw away a dependency where all coarse fibers can he grOWTl and from which a large part, of the world's hemp now comes. At the moment, when we feel the pinch of a foreign trust, we relin- quish our surest chance of control- ling or supplanting the trust. It all illust rale-, the chaos in the present conception of national aim- in Washington. — April 3, 1916. JAPAN DRAWING NEARER Dr, Frederick Starr, of the Uni- versity of Chicago, who is just back from Japan, throws an interesting sidelight upon Japanese policy in connection with the world war. In- terviewed upon his arrival at San .400 THE GRAYEST 366 DAYS Francisco, Dr. Starr is quoted as saying : Japan has no intention of withdraw- ing from the Ladrone or Marshall Is- lands, which she has taken from Ger- many and which lie about midway be- tween the Philippines and Hawaii. She has already undertaken expensive schemes with reference to the postal service, telegraphs and cables of these possessions. She is sending settlers in quantity to them. By the seizure of the Ladrones, the Japanese established themselves just north of Guam, our way station to the Philippines. By occupying the Marshall archipelago, Japan executed a march of 1,500 miles in the general direction of the western hemisphere. Dr. Starr's statement shows that Japan's intention is to keep both these groups of islands, to develop and colonize them. In the event of complications with America, Japan through her new- acquisitions would have a base of supplies a good 1,500 miles nearer the Hawaiian Islands than Yoko- hama. By the same acquisitions, her task of interrupting communica- tions between San Francisco and the Philippines and Honolulu and the Philippines would be greatly sim- plified. These achievements by an ambi- tious people of extremely limited elbow room and a fast-growing population are worth keeping in mind. — April 6, 1916. to the people than the Senate. In many instances in our national his- tory, aside from the Philippine mat- ter, it has proven more responsive to the real sentiments of the coun- try. Our people are not willing to set the Philippines adrift, and the House so records itself. It would be an unworthy course to follow at this time. The best thought among the Filipinos themselves is emphat- ically against so-called "independ- ence" for their islands. They real- ize that independence would mean chaos — until some other government stepped in and took the place the United States had abandoned. The House vote of 213 to 165 yes- terday is practically a defeat of the measure — for this Congress at least. It is an administration bill, and the large adverse vote is, therefore, sig- nificant, particularly in view of the fact that the Senate, yielding to White House pressure, had passed the bill. The time will come when the Fil- ipinos should have absolute inde- pendence. No lover of liberty would delay that day a single moment, and this government, last of all in the world, should resist it. It would be a shame and disgrace to us, how- ever, if we should now establish a Mexico on the Asiatic shore. — May 2, 1916. STICKING TO THE PHILIPPINES Evidently no policy of scuttling from the Philippines can be adopted by this country with the consent of the House of Eepresentatives. The lower branch of Congress is closer GIVING JAPAN A FREE HAND Ambassador Chinda, of Japan, has won a significant victory for his country at Washington. Under pressure from the administration, the Senate committee on immigra- tion has thrown up its hands on the JAPAN 401 issue between the United States and Japan, which was recently made the subject of representations at the White House by the accomplished oriental diplomat. The committee has eliminated from the immigra- tion bill the clause which was de- signed to exclude Japanese subjects. In its place it has adopted a pro- vision, drafted by Baron Chinda, which exempts Japanese from the operations of existing exclusion laws, even when those Japanese happen to be natives of such territories as Manchuria, eastern Siberia and Ko- rea, whose natives are barred out by legislation now in force. The committee's surrender was complete. Baron Chinda, it appears, made ample provision for the future expansion of Japan, on the mainland of China as well as on island terri- tory, by shifting back the line of ex- clusion to the 110th meridian. That exemption would insure free entry to Japanese who may be born in north- eastern China, the object of Japa- nese aspirations of the future. It is announced that the adminis- tration at Washington is prepared to exert pressure upon both houses of Congress, in a determined effort to embody these notable concessions to Japan in the bill on its final pas- sage. Baron Chinda's diplomatic suc- cess is only one of the successive steps which Japan has been taking in its campaign to dominate eastern Asia. The last previous triumph of the Japanese Foreign office in its dealings with America was marked by the abandonment by Washington of the policy of the "open door," which John Hay had made the law of nations. Taking advantage of the moment when Christendom was plunged in war and when Japan's assistance was badly needed by her ally, England, Japanese statesman- ship imposed upon China conditions which made the closing of Mr. Hay's "open door" an inexorable certainty. To China's energetic appeal against Japanese aggression, Washington re- plied with a communication to Pe- kin and Tokio, which amounted to a declaration of America's refusal to interfere in a situation fraught with menace to our commercial interests in the greatest unexploited market of the world. This market, under the stimulus of industrial develop- ment, would possess a purchasing power of $4,000,000,000 a year. As a part of this vast expansive movement, Japan has sought to ob- tain from America a recognition of the equality of the Japanese race with the white nations, bv the ad- mission of Japanese into America on the same basis as white immigrants. This recognition, keenly desired by a proud and ambitious people, Japan has obtained by the terms of the amendment made in the immigra- tion bill at the behest of the Wash- ington administration. And this concession, as Japan has doubtless calculated, will exert a powerful moral effect upon the Chi- nese, whose protests against their own exclusion have been unavailing. It will aid the Japanese in their am- bitious design to place themselves in the leadership of the yellow races. Chinese industry, persistence, thrift and ingenuity furnish excellent ma- terial for Japan's molding hand. The Japanese for a generation have been at work developing the eco- nomic and military potentialities of 400,000,000 Chinese. The recogni- tion of Japan as a dominant nation will help the forging of a vast arrow of offensive purpose. The tail of 102 THE GRAVEST 366 PAYS this arrow will rest in China, and its head in Japan. And the point oi this portentous weapon is directed toward America, Such is the sinister course of events which American policy has made possible under pressure from Japan. And America's acquiescence in Japanese aspirations has boon the outcome of our unpreparadaese to deal vigorously with a situation which has involved a surrender of important American rights. 1 low long will America continue to mortgage the future because it lacks the only force which makes diplomacy effective— the iron hand within the velvet glove? — Mag is. 1916. JAPANS AMBITIOUS PLANS OF DEVELOPMENT A \\ iso old owl livoil in an oak. The more ho saw the loss ho spoke ; The loss ho sj>oko the more ho heard. Win oan't wo ho liko that old bird! Japan is the wise old owl of the world to-day. Quietly, systematical* 1\ and adroitly the clever men who rule the chrysanthemum empire are planning the most ambitious trade conquest the world has ever known. They see in the dislocation of the affairs o( Europe such opportunity as a centurj of peace would not have furnished and they are taking advantage of it to the full. They believe, and they have basis for the belief, thai they n\U1 com- mand the commerce o( the Pacific absolutely. They are building ships at a rate undreamed of by persons who do not appreciate their enter- prise. On the authority of George 11 Scidmore, United States consul at Yokohama, it is stated that hi the Mitsubishi yards at Yokohama 10,000 men are employed; in the Mitsubishi yards at Kobe "0.1 00 are working; in the Kawasaki yards at Kobe 9,500 are employed ; in the yards at Osaka, Uraga, Sarada and Ftqinagata front 300 to 3,000 are engaged. The toil is given as 87,- 900. That is about as many as are employed in the shipbuilding plants ot the United States along the At- lantic eoast. The American yards are busy on miscellaneous work and are building not a tew ships for British. Norwegian and other for- eign concerns. Of the American \ess t >ls they are constructing the bulk is ttta.de up o( tankers for oil companies. Comparatively tew gen- eral cargo boats for American regis- try are coming from American yards. The Japanese are not content with what they can build for them- selves. They are buying ships — good, bio- ships wherever the] can be obtained. The other day the\ purchased from the International Mercantile Marine two of the tine craft that formerly were the pride o( the Pacific Mail fleet The significance oi the purchase of these \essels van be appreciated only if one knows the cheapness of ship construction in Japan, The International Mercantile Marine bought these ships from the Pacific Mad for about $1,500,000 each. They sold them for about $8,000,000 each. The \essels more than paid for themselves in the short time the International Mercantile Marine owned them. The Japanese eould build two ships o( the same si e and character for about $1,000,000 apiece. But the Japanese wanted boats for immediate service. The International Mercantile Marine, an American corporation, considered profit in hand better than profit in JAPAN 403 prosjnvi, and, besides, the interna hional Mercantile Marine La Ameri- can m Dame only and has no partic- ular interesl in the promotion of the American merchant marine. In American shipyards wages :ire very high, averaging perhaps $5 a day. In Japanese shipyards wages average from 39 to i~> cents per day. In America there is danger of Btrikes, I n Japan there is aone. More than all else, the Japanese run operate their ships for perhaps 80 per cent, less than can owners whose vessels are under the Ameri- can flag. Behind the shipbuilding looma tin 1 greal purpose oi Japan. China, huge, lumbering China, is to be ex* ploited politically, industrially and financially. Europe is too busy de- stroying itself to interfere. When war ends Europe will be too busy dressing its wounds to be concerned with China. When Europe is well again China will be a vassal of Japan. Mines, mills, railways of China are being Japanned. The consular reporl gives the operations Of one month in China as follows : The Sino-Japanese Industrial Com pany l»:is acquired rights tot the Lao- Chung mine In Anhui mid is projecting tin* establishment <>r b large iron foundry company, ■with capital of 20,000,000 yen ($9,970,000). The South Manchuria Rallwaj CJom i>:m\ bas secured rights tor tin* An- siiMiuiiMii Mini seven other mines. Tin' Maigai Cotton Company, of Lusaka, contemplates extending tin> equipment of its cotton mill in Shanghai by 20.000 spindles al an expenditure of 2,000,000 yen ($997,000), and a Bimilar scheme is contemplated by Mitsui & Co. Suzuki & Co. intend to start a large spinning company somewhere iu South China. Knl China, big :is if is. does not satisfy the amhition o\' Japan. Japan is peaching out everj w here. In association with Russian capital isls, Japanese merchants of Yoko hama have under consideration the establishing of a monster cotton mill at MOSCOW . This project will enlatl Mil expenditure of 10,1)00,000 \,.|i ($4,985,000). In the South Sea Islands the Japanese have control of and are developing practically all the min- eral resources in those lands and, in addil ion. Tokio and Osaka husiness men are planning to promote a rub- ber company in the federated Malay States. 'The Japanese governmenl has or- ganized ;i trade commission whose function it is to investigate the condition of foreign markets as affected by the war. Members o( the Commission will be dispatched to India, the South Sea Islands, Austria. Europe and North ami South America to carry on tnyosli- gations. So far as South America is con Cemed, the Japanese are not con- fining their attentions to Peru, Bo- livia, Ecuador^ Chile and Colombia, hut see prospects of good luisiness in the Argentine, Paraguay, Brazil and Uruguay as well, Japanese bankers arc broadening (heir activi- ties'. The Sumitomo Bank, ol' Osaka. is to open branches in Honolulu and San Francisco. The Mitsubishi Company is opening ;i branch in New York as well as mi London. In the near future the Nippon ^ lisan Kaisha will have its steamers plying between Now York ami Ja pan, via the Panama canal, ami. as it will not he hound hy the estab- lished tariffs, a reduction in freighl rates between the Atlantic ports o\' America and Asia may lie expected. In 1916 the merchant marine of •KM THE GRAVEST 366 PAYS an was put at 1,886,319 tons. w thin the next twelve months tltis will be increased probably one-half. \ fen years ago Japan was stag- gering under tho weight of debt en- tailed by the Rosso-Japanese war. IV day it is the giant o\ the ESasi Its financial strength is negligi- ble in comparison with the United S ites, but the spirit of nationalism is strong with its people. While the United States has talked. Japan has ed, I'-.e cardinal weakness of Ameriea is in its laek of unity of purpose. It is losing the chance to gain one of the greatest prizes of the world — the commerce of the seas— because of this weakness And what a commentary it is that a people to whom western eivil tiou was unknown seventy five years ago should show more enterprise to-day than a people who boasted of their enterprise J that the Yankee of the far Bast should show the way to the Yankee of the West! -.1 :.-:■: 11. L916 CHINA SEEKS A LOAN HERE The Chinese government is in the American market for a loan of $85,000,000. The restored republic of China needs the money urgently for tho purposes of reconstruction after the internal anarchy amid which the Yuan Shi-kai regime end- ed in the death of the emperor- president. New York hankers are evidently inclined to raise the money hut they want to know first whether the government at Washington, fol- lowing in some remote degree the established policies oi European ge\ eraments in similar eases, is willing — not to impose political terms on the borrower, as other governments invariable do. hut to make some sort of declaration that the funds will he safeguarded in the turmoil which is China's current history lit other words, the bankers wish the government to revert to the far seeing policy m the Far Mast which John Hay established, and which was designed to seeure to Anienea a legitimate share in the development of the vast resourees of China. The wishes of the hankers are worth the serious attention o\ the administration. A substantial loan to China at this particular time would he of the greatest commercial value to the United States. A loan to a country like China can he easily made to take the form of a credit for the purchase o( American goods. When Prance, or Britain, or Ger- many lends money to an iiupeeuni- ous country, the conditions oi the loan always include a provision for the expenditure of at least a part of the proceeds of the transaction m the creditor country. Japan, taking advantage of the prooeeupation of the world else- where, and preparing to take advan- tage o( America's prospective pre- occupation on the Rio Crande. is fastening her grip upon the Chinese market. The application oi China for an American loan, therefore, is a strategic event which should not he neglected. The administration at Washing- ton can do much, by a single word. to protect our menaced commercial interests in the Far Fast. That word should not he left unspoken. — l. L916, THE RUSSO-JAPANESE TREATY The aims and seope of the Rus Japanese treaty, just signed, cannot JAPAN 405 Pail i<> be of lively Interest to the count i'v which enunciated I lie policy of the "open (lour" in China ana made it a recognized international principle Willi apparent frankness Japan lins explained thai the new agree tnent provides Por a friendly co operal ion between I hat country and Russia in the event that the inter ests of either are menaced in the Par East. Such a provision may mean Little or 11 may mean much. During the years that have inter- vened since the I real y of Portsmouth was signed by Witte and EComura, Russia has been hand in glove with Japan in all matters affecting China. Japan has oot opposed the exten sion of Russian railroads and Rus- sian influence in northern China, hi return, Russia has been remark ably complaisant to the activities of her former enemy in ils dealings with Ohina. In the course of the Latest encroachments of Japan upon ( Ihina, the foreign office at Pel ro grad and the inspired Russian press maintained a decorous silence which distinctly implied acquiescence. In a supplementary explanation of the purposes of the agreement wiili Russia, Japanese statesmen vol unteer the assurance that the treaty ■will in no way affect American in- terests in the Far East, and that it is designed to prevent the embroil meni or ( 'himi in fresh international complications through the ambitions of Germany. II. will be remembered thai the same respect Eor American rights and the same solicitude for the in ■ tegrity of China were affirmed by Japan during the diplomatic strug- gle in Pekin which had the definite result of closing the "open door" by I good hil ami of fastening upon ( ihina a degr f Japanese control 11ml. is a menace to Chinese sqv ereignty, The new treaty, il is frankly ad mitted al Tokio, is an amplification ami extension to Russia of the treaty already existing between Ja pan and Great Britain. II forms a sort of triumvirate Por the pro fcection of "mutual interests." Will il, also prove a triumvirate Eor the exclusion and hamperihg of l he in terests of ol her nai ions besides Rus- sia in the markets of the undevel oped pori ion of I he Far East? 1 1 behooves the State department to look closely into the provisions of the new agreement. America cannot afford to continue an indif- fereiil speclalor while I he coniincr cial ami political future <>f 400,000, 000 prospective purchasers is being determined behind closed doors amid an international confusion which furnishes a favorable atmosphere for devious diplomacy. July 8, L916. A CHILL WIND FROM TOKIO When statesmen are about l»> start upon a new national policy one of their lirsl sleps is lo clear away any facts of history or of sentiment that might obstruct the progress of the changed order of things. Somebody has said that hisfory is made of putty, so readily does il. yield to I he manipulations of statesmen or sov- ereigns. And the more widely ac- cepted and firmly held Hie record of history tho greater the necessity Eor ils destruction to make way for ;i new dispensal ion. Count Okuma, premier of Ja pan, lays violent hands upon the great formula of Japanese American friendship the belief on holh sides ■KHi THF GRAVEST 366 DAYS that Commodore Perry was the man who awoke Japan and made it pos- sible for her to enter the family of modern nations. That service to Japan, the premier points out in a newspaper article, was not per- formed by Commodore Perry. It s the work, he argues, of Nikolai Lezanoff, who headed an imperial mission to Japan at the command of ( a Alexander I. fifty years be- fore Torn was heard from. The purpose oi this mission, relates I out I I 1 vutua. was to open up Japan to the res; of the world, and the task was successfully accomplished. Count Okuma Joes not explain how it happened that, fifty years after the opening oi Japan by L anoff, Perry found it tightly closed. Be does, however, indicate with un- mistakable candor the new direction in which the wind from Tokio has set in. His little essa) on history s entitled to the serious attention oi Congress and of the American pie. Tern's services to Japan, and Japan's warm sense oi gratitude to America for dispatching his naval expedition to awaken the Japan- from their sleep of centuries, have been regarded hitherto as the basis oi an undying friendship between the United States and Japan. That friendship was the magic formula which was - in an amicable way any trouble that might arise between the two coun- tries. In the gravest phases of the California controversy, and the con- troversy arising out of the exclu- sion of Japanese coolies, we wore assured from Tokio that Japan could never raise a hand against the nation that let the eurreni of modern life into the veins of Nip- pon. Ww that formula is swept away by a denial of the achieve- ment upon which it was based. And this denial is not made by some irresponsible professor, but by the premier of Japan, who presum- ably is too busy and too high-placed personage to dabble in merely academic matters. Japan is in contact with the white man's world at only two points — Russia and Ameriea. Russia, in the light oi the treaty of alliance re- cently signed with Japan, is ex- eluded from the scope oi possible Japanese aggression by a com- munity of interests. But the white man's world. Singing itself across the Atlantic, has crossed the Pa- e and has come in touch with Japan in a sphere which by Japan's declaration is exclusively Asiatic — that is to say, Japanese. And this white man's country is the only re- gaining Caucasion-inhabited land in which there is plenty of elbow room and untold wealth still awaiting ^elopnient. Japan is swarming with one of the most densely eon- pulations in the world and a high birth rate is constantly add- ing to the congestion. I?he eastern side oi the Asiatic continent, al- ready overcrowded, is not attracting Japanese immigration, Ameriea re- mains the land of heart's desire for the Japam - In conjunction with these facts it is interesting to note that Japan's latest naval programme provi< - for the construction oi eight super? dreadnoughts and six battle cruis- - The National Security League. in a communication to the House naval committee, calls attention to this ambitious programme oi naval expansion as a matter of vital con- cern to Cong: Will Congress take into considera- JAPAN ■107 lion the manifest signs of the time, or shall we drifi with closed eves inio ;i siiii.n ion which may bring a national disaster? Against whom is Japan undertak- ing these gigantic naval prepara- tions? Thai is a question which Congress and the American people should keep clearly in mind. — Aug, 10, L916. KUMAGAE The \ i< tory of the Japanese, ECumagae, over our national cham- pion, Johnston, of ( ialifornia, in i he \ i\\ port in\ itai ion tournament, was an event that should start- us think- ing. II may be that in the national Championship at Newport some one may ho found to defeat the Jap. 01 herwise the championship of t his country, and so of the world, will gO to Japan. If Kumapie can win, all honor and success to him. A lew superficial people may si ill think thai in Japan we Ao n per cent. The exporl business o( the automobile industry is immense. So it is with almost every other impor- tant department of production. Only i he textile industry lags. Some American potton mills have declined foreign orders. They are doing so well with domestic husi- ness that they are perfectly content. Thai is the trouble with the American cotton manufacturer. He considers the export business as a Crutch — something to he used when home business is bad. but to easi aside when home trade is good. Home trade is excellenl now. So he Cares little about foreign orders. South America is ready to buy American cotton goods. So is Cen- tral America. Italy has tried to place orders. There is a large trade to bo had in Africa and elsewhere. Many o( the mills o( Belgium, Ger- many and Austria are idle. So are tens o( thousands o( the spindles of France and Russia. Opportunity Buch as America never had before presents itself, but is neglected, The cotton goods o( the United States never will be marketed throughout the world until the American textile industry is man- aged with enterprise, vision and real appreciation o\' the value o\' an ex- port trade, Jan, 16, L916. PAN-AMERICAN UNDER- STANDING NEARER Harvard University has done a Bervice o( great importance to the cause o( pan-American unity by the establishment o\' a chair o( Latiu- American history and economics, 'Idte sueeess o( this slop toward a better understanding of the prosper-? ous ami growing peoples south of the Rio Grande is assured by the se- lection o( one o( the most, distin- guished scholars and public men o\' South America for the newly ereated professorship. He is Dr. Ernesto Quesada, Attorney-General of the Argentine Republic, Prof essor of So- ciolosry at. the University o\' Buenos Ayres and Professor o( Political Economy at the University o( La Plata. Dr. Quesada is a thorough believer in the doctrine that the essentia] in- terests o( the Latin-American repub- lics are identical with those o\' the 1'nited States. As chief o( the Ar- gentinian delegation to the Pan- American Scientific Congress re- cently held m Washington, he gave powerful advocacy to the movement for united action by all the states 410 THE GRAYEST 366 DAYS of the two Americas for the promo- tion of their common interests, com- mercial, industrial, political and in- tellectual. A thinker of large vision and a singular clarity of analysis, Dr. Quesada will be able, perhaps better than anybody else on the two con- tinents, to impress upon the minds of American students the fallacy of the attitude which we have hereto- fore maintained in our relations with the Latin-American states. This fallacy is best illustrated by the general assumption held by the man in the street that the other Americas are a lot of turbulent oligarchies, masquerading under the name of re- publics, whose only hope of salvation lies in the adoption of our customs, our social organization and our point of view. A man of impressive dignity and great charm of manner, he is quali- fied, perhaps better than any other man on the two continents, to sub- stitute for this arrogant delusion the truth that at least some of the Latin republics have attained to as high a grade of civilization as our own, that their background of achievement is in no way less worthy than our own, that if we desire to cultivate endur- ing relations with our neighbors to the south we must set about doing it on a basis of equality instead of the present ground of tolerant superior- ity — the sort of superiority an adult adopts in dealing with a child. Finally, this eminent Latin- Amer- ican will be able to convey to the North American mind the fact that, because of this unwarranted as- sumption of superiority, the United States has largely alienated the sym- pathies of young and energetic peoples who would gladly have re- garded this republic as an elder sis- ter and a model. And he will be able to show us that by our lack of comprehension we have missed a great opportunity, perhaps never again to be presented in the same degree, to build up profitable busi- ness relations with countries of un- limited possibilities of development. If Dr. Quesada succeeds in per- forming these services to* the cause of pan-Americanism, he will earn the gratitude of the two Americas. — Nov. 7, 1915. WANTED, A STATESMAN IN FINANCE Through lack of a man of great financial and commercial vision, America is in danger of losing the greatest opportunity ever presented to a nation. In 1910, the latest year for which statistics are obtain- able, the wealth of the United States was $187,000,000,000; Great Britain, $85,000,000,000; Germany, $80,000,000,000; France, $50,000,- 000,000; Russia, $40,000,000,000; Austria-Hungary, $25,000,000,000 ; Italy, $20,000,000,000; India, $15,- 000,'000,000, and that of all other countries combined less than $100,- 000,000,000. In material strength, therefore, the United States had ap- proximately one-third of the total of the world. The position of America was pe- culiar. With all its wealth and power its part in international com- merce was small. A large propor- tion of its raw products, like cot- ton and copper, went out of the country, carried in foreign ships to foreign lands to be manufactured into finished goods and then sold the world over and, in not a few in- stances, sold to America itself. Fa- OUR FOREIGN TRADE 411 vored with a greater variety and a greater abundance of mineral re- sources and nature's products than any other section of the earth, it lacked the organization or the spirit to utilize them to the fullest degree for its own benefit. Absorbed for many years with its domestic development, it has neg- lected or ignored world trade. Its growth had been wonderful but haphazard. Agriculture held its ex- clusive attention for generations. Not until it began to see a limit to its' agricultural spread was serious attention given to industrial devel- opment. For a nation to make the most of its industrial possibilities in all the markets of the world there must be a co-ordination of effort by the manufacturer, the merchant, the financier and the statesman. Industry and commerce are the bases of a nation's wealth and greatness. America plunged into industrial development but neg- lected its foreign commerce. With all its wealth it was the chief debtor nation. To build its railroads and develop many of its industries, it borrowed from Eng- land, France, Germany, Austria, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and other European countries. With the thicker settlement of our country and the gradual disap- pearance of our agricultural surplus for export, it became apparent that our favorable balance in the foreign trade must be maintained by a cor- responding growth of manufactured exports. Moreover, for a decade or two before the great war, it was realized that unless America built up a foreign trade for its manu- factures it was certain to suffer through overproduction. Spasmodic efforts were made to develop for- eign markets, but, without a mer- chant marine, proper banking sup- port and a national purpose back of them, they failed in all but a few instances. Overgrowth, overproduction and misdirection of effort brought peri- odic panics, followed by long years of industrial depression and fruit- less introspection instead of reform. This introspection ended so soon as prosperity returned. The war came in one of the peri- ods of depression. With the war came a collapse of the financial ma- chinery of the world and paralysis of the ocean-carrying system. It required no particular vision to see what tremendous possibilities were open to America. Great Britain, which controlled more than half the ships of the sea, was in a life or death struggle. Germany, which had made wonderful strides com- mercially and had opened markets for her goods in every quarter of the globe, was bottled up and threatened with possible destruc- tion. Asia, Africa, South America and a large part of Europe had to look to America for what previ- ously had been supplied by Great Britain, France and Germany. Be- fore the war ended, America might establish herself in world commerce and hold a position compatible with her wealth, her industrial power and her strength. The situation had its perplexities and difficulties, for the courses of commerce are not to be changed in a day or a year out of the channels through which thev have been flow- ing for decades or centuries, but the time was one of revolution, convul- sion, pregnant with tremendous possibilities. Opportunity usually develops the man. Unfortunately 41? THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS the man has not appeared to shape the way for America. Neither per- sonal nor national pride has awak- ened him. ■Meanwhile America has floun- dered like a gaint without sense of direction. The way her energies have been misapplied and her blind- ness taken advantage of is madden- ing. At a time when we were made to realize our helpless dependence for foreign trade upon the alien- owned carriers of that trade, no constructive plan has been evolved and put into practice for a revival of our merchant marine. The golden opportunity has been thrown away to realize our power and out- duty to take advantage of these times and get us a merchant ma- rine worthy of our place in the world. Early in the war England. France and Russia had agents scouring the United States for ma- chinery. 1. allies, vises and boring machines were purchased by the hundreds and the thousands until the nation was stripped o( all that could be obtained for love or money. Since then the scarcity of lathes and other machinery sold freely and blithely has hampered many manufacturing establish- ments. Steel mills, railroad car and equipment concerns and various other establishments were flooded with orders for munitions. To-day the railroads of America are suf- fering through scarcity of cars and are begging car and equipment houses to fill orders which cannot be executed promptly because all or nearly all the car and equipment plants are busy on war material. Some of the steel mills are un- able to turn out shapes and plates for the building of American ships because their war orders have pri- ority. Excuse may be made in these in- stances because the foreign orders came to the steel and equipment makers at a time of almost stagna- tion. But for some other branches o( industry there appears to be no apology. America is the land of cotton. It grows more than two-thirds of all the cotton of the earth. The bulk of its crop is sent to Europe to be made into cloth by European spinners. There is no reason why our mills should not turn out any and every kind of cotton goods equal in quality, fineness and fin- ish to any in the world. There are ■ things to which a manufac- turer gives consideration in figuring his chances as against a competitor. They are: 1. cost of raw material; 8, plant and machinery; ;>, power] I, labor, and 5, cost o( marketing. America, by nearness to the held o( production, has great advantages over European cotton manufactur- ers. America has plants and ma- chinery to turn out any grade of cotton goods. Power, either from coal or hydro-electric, is abundant and cheap. Labor costs more in America, or, rather, did before the war. As to cost of marketing, that varies. Belgium, France, Germany and Austria are shut off from their usual exports of cotton manufac- tures. English spinners are em- barrassed by labor shortage. If our cotton crop is to be used and cotton prices kept up, American manufacturers must use this disap- pearing European quota. But Amer- ican manufacturers, at the present OUR FOREIGN TKADK 413 rate, will not use over 7,000,000 bales in the present year, only 400,000 hales more than their best annual takings before the war. A statesman in finance would have shouldered this industry with fresh capital to open new markets. Why should American cotton go to Liv- erpool to be spun for ( 'hinese mar- kets? American mills are known to have refused orders for South America and from Europe. Prosperous and contented with local business, they are not concerned about forming trade conned ions in foreign lands. They never are when American trade ifi good. They never think seriously of a foreign market until American business is had. What, is true of the American tes tile man is true of various other American manufacturers. No in- dustry is solid and sale unless it, is assured of foreign markets. To neg- lect the full Held of commerce is to imperil the industry. To illustrate how lacking the American textile men have I Men, it is necessary only to declare that, despite all the tremendous handi- caps of war, the British cotton man- ufacturers are doing almost as large a foreign trade as before the war, and are more prosperous than at any time in more than a quarter of a century. But the American textile men have plenty of company in the group of neglected opportunity. American Shipbuilders, who were slow to see what, the war meant ^>v American shipping, now are hooked full with orders that will keep them busy for two years or more. They have raised their prices until a ship owner con- siders himself fortunate if he can get a vessel built for twice the sum it would have cost, him before the war. Most of the shipyards are short. Of skilled men. Material is hard to obtain. There is little of standard ization and not much of the ceo nomy that ha made Kngland and Germany great, in shipbuilding. To a nation with so much sea coast, and with such ;in interest, in developing foreign trade, there should be a bond of union and effort between t,he government, and the shipping people. There is none here. Instead there is antagonism, bitter- ness and disl rust. But, neglectful as the industrial leaders have been of their opporhi nify, the financiers have been wo> With billions of dollars of Ameri can seen nlies held in England and France, the bankers of New York engineered an unsecured loan of $500,000,000 to England and Prance. This probably is the In I time in the history of the world where a debtor nation lent money to Ms creditors. The normal thing would have been for us to take up our securities abroad, the certificates of our in- debtedness. To lend money is the bankers' privilege, but how many persons ap- preciate what this loan cost Ameri cans? Practically it has been em- ployed to aid the foreign holders of American securities to retain them and hold them over the American market instead of being forced to dispose of them at what would b^ave been bargain prices to American purchasers. Some day that, $500,- MDD.ooi) Loan will be considered a joke —a joke on Americans. I f the American has lacked vision and forethought, the Britisher has not. lie has been shrewd, forceful and clever, lie has used much of -U4 l'UF GRAVEST S66 PAYS that 1500,00 \ He has manipu . m markets « hen he w b tun SO 11 Ul b\lY at tVek He ': - \ •• . ■ ,.-■■. aid and it »n \ . until he has made the \ i can w . wers believe r grain was net needed, Then, \\ vn v had th and t had throv ngs beard, . n and . and \ eeo the - nullio . sh in ear miu - ■ ten ' fall of 1914, stack ••• a - and lei 8 \ . \.-.l\ ad v .'. - I nation re enri< hed b> war ders and ••war enJ.es." we have w porieneod an uue\a.tnp rit of industrial wastefulness. b'.io bnsi- ;.l-\ M.l'.lll turers ha\ « Q eflfc encj \\ iids. P .is and individr. have been forgetting hew to save and running I spenditu into a burden tee heaw irv when the} meet the DOS inn on of a chastened, unified, disciplined Europe, Amer best energ en this war ends. If the people are wasteful, extravagant and (.are less, the] will be n peer fettle te meet the strain, E will be in the guise ef a New World and Ante' garb ef an The workers ef Europe, driven by necessity, will be mere efficient, care- ful and enterprising than ever fere. It will be a regenerated Europe since, and, I , will become mi: America in eld An Hew > been had a man ef tlnan- wer, com- mercial wisdom and broad states inauship risen Is it i. i for one to s . POS! ftOi leader- W I out, it is the duty ef the man w o oves v his rive ar te eve] \ - loan i on -\ rce, v-vii, an finance and the American \ \ u, 1916 GERMANY STILL OUR CUSTOMER I'v uews that German mer- chants and German manufactui are making heavy purchases IS this country for deliver] •"after the war,*' and that goods h mount $300,000,000 m value are al- ready accumulated at points near \ ■■■ s for shipment as seen after the last gnu bee- ; . is characteristic of 0ejr- man meth< It - \ aed, en ithority inquiries ma< the Chics "Herald," t' lucts pur- ased by Germany in keen an- ■ patten ef the rebuilding of Ger- man commerce after the dose ef the hostilities include copper, cot- ton, wool, lard,, wheat ami various er supplies needed for the habituation oi Germany. \ signi u mi feature o( the com- QUU FOREIGN TRADE Ufi meroia] activities <>i' Germany I < i \ r i m ■ r 1 1 general many is cut off from I he ocean dist n pathways <>f the world, and from \ targe part of the people of Italy the sources of money n present Htross it may be safely a cri'ihi "( j.'iiiiiiuv'm credit in the sunned that the spectre of want is United States is not exhausted/' a knocking at many a door, from the banker is quoted as saying i<> a southernmost tip of Sicily to the Chicago "Herald" financial writer northernmost border of uie kino in explanation of the financial dom phase of this activity Before the war, England, in addi Tins continuance <>f aotive plan fcion to America, was the source of ning for the future is character the bulk of [taly's coal supply, in i:. in- mil only of German commer the presenl orisis English coal has cial foresighl bul also of the been out off, because England is strength of the social and political conserving her resources even at structure upon which German com the expense of her ally, and one meroe is based, .Any state organ reason why ooal in Belling at $n» a ization which can maintain its ton in [taly is the enormous in vitality and its active enterprise crease in ocean freight rates Jan, for the morrow under the tmprec 80, L916, edented conditions under which ■ Germany in maintaining them, in • «_-...._. well worth the study of the Amer AMERICA SADLY LAGGING ican people al a time when they "The Review of the River Plate" are beginning to realize the im for March •'!, furnishes a stirring re portance of organizing their own minder of the opportunities which powers and resources against the we are losing, not only in Argentina hazards of the future. Deo, !», but in every other Latin-American i!»i. r >. oountry al a time in the world's hi fcory when the obstacle of war has « AAT Am «*,„ A ,,,^-t olosed old markets and is turning in COAL AT $40 A TON temational trade into new channels The tragedy of a nation lirs !><• in this issue of the "Review," which hind the news dispatch announcing is published in English al Buenos thai in [taly coal is selling al $40 Ayres and is the representative bus- s ton. The statement suggests iness publication of the Argentine some reflections upon the effects of Republic, im>si of the foreign firms the war, with its blockades, ship and enterprises doing business in seizures and increases in sea freighi that greal country are represented rales, upon one of the partners in by advertisements, of which there are the quadruple entente. thirty five and a half pages all told. At $40 ;i ton, coal is half as « ,v < The jnazagine bears ah unmistakable pensive as sugar; more than hair iook of prosperity, [ts appearance us expensive as flour; nunc expen is a reflection of the purchasing live than potatoes. OoaJ at $40 a power of a prosperous people who 416 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS are looking for foreign manufac- tured goods which they cannot pro- duce themselves — as yet. Of the aggregate advertising, 56 per cent, is taken by British firms of which the nationality cannot be mistaken. An additional 10 per cent, is taken by firms of individ- uals whose affiliations or ownership is largely or predominantly British. The Britons' appreciation of the value of the Argentine market is thus indicated by the fact that they have taken up 60 per cent, of the advertising space of a recognized Argentine business medium. The advertising of American goods is limited to two and one-half per cent. The people of Argentina have a quarrel with Great Britain because of the seizure of ships, which has caused commercial distress in the re- public and was recently the subject of heated debates in the Argentine Congress. Nevertheless, British trade with Argentina, as reflected by the advertising in the "Review," is in a flourishing condition. With the people of ' the United States the Argentinians have no quarrel. On the contrary, much has been said recently about closer re- lations, especially commercial rela- tions, between the United States and the Latin republics, including Ar- gentina. And yet the American manufacturer and exporter is taking next to no pains to tell the Argen- tinians that we ' have things which we would like to sell them. — April 21, 1916. SELLING TO SOUTH AMERICA A recent foreign trade bulletin of the American Express Company makes one reason clear why Argen- tine buyers want ninety days' credit on their purchases. The reason ap- pears when one reviews the local ad- vertisements of banks doing business in Argentine. Their bank rates for "overdrafts in current accounts" or "debit balances in accounts current" range at 8 or 9 per cent. The Ar- gentine buyer, by getting credit from the American seller at 6 per cent., makes a profit on all he bor- rows. And the Argentine buyer expects to pay 6 per cent, for the credit loaned him. He has been taught that by European sellers who, if he does not pay cash, charge him for the time that his bill runs. The European seller also makes money on the transaction, for he can bor- row money at less than the 6 per cent, he charges the South Ameri- can. The same profit lies open to the United States seller, under the new credit conditions initiated by the federal reserve law. Every new country, like Argen- tina, lacks capital. One of the means of lending capital to it is for American and European exporters to lend credit to buyers down there. One of the necessary weapons of our commercial warfare is the readiness to lend to South America commer- cial capital at the same time that we sell them goods. We have labored under the handi- cap of faulty credit information re- garding buyers to the south of us. This is being remedied, especially through American branch banks be- ing established there. Our exports have been handicapped by the diffi- culty of getting from our banks credit to loan to South American buyers. That difficulty is being remedied by the addition of the for- OUR FOREIGN TRADE 417 eign trade element to the scheme of our bank loans. — June 28, 1916. THE KEY TO SOUTH AMERI- CAN COMMERCE Opportunity such as a nation never had before was presented to us by the European war. Cut off in a day by the disorganization of the financial system by which she had been bound to England, France, Ger- many, Italy, Holland, Portugal and Spain and by the disruption of her trade lines South America turned to the United States. Her commerce, her friendship, the financing of her manifold enterprises were ours if we strove for them. What have we done to win the prize ? We have established a few branch banks, lent some money to one of the governments, sold goods in far larger volume than hitherto and with that we have been content. The bulk of the effort made thus far has been a side issue merely to the oper- ations of one New York bank. By geographical lines the coun- tries to the south are welded to us. By the Monroe Doctrine they are wedded to us. To the maintenance of that doctrine we would shed our blood and spend our treasure, but unless we realize our shortcomings and plan intelligently to do now what we should have done long ago the trade of Latin America will re- vert to Europe when the war ends. It is drifting back now. Great Brit- ain is doing almost as much trade with South America as before the war. Commerce follows the channels of money. The development of South America has been financed by the bankers of Europe. France, Ger- many, Portugal have invested mil- lions of dollars to build the railroads of Brazil to open the door for its wealth of resources and, incidentally, to sell to Brazil the products of their mills, their factories and their mul- titudinous industries. Great Britain has done likewise in other sections of South America. Italy, Belgium, Holland and Spain have done their part. On the bourses of Paris and Berlin and in the stock exchange of London "South Americans" have been dealt in as freely almost as home securi- ties. Railroad bonds and shares, rubber shares, hydro-electric shares, traction shares, copper shares found a ready market. Some of the great- est works of development in Brazil were the conception of two brilliant Americans one an engineer from Massachusetts, the other a New Yorker, but not a dollar of Ameri- can money went into their under- takings. To finance their projects they had to get the support of French and British bankers. The average American is as dis- tant in language, financial knowl- edge and general understanding of Latin America as of India. There has been little study of Spanish. Our business men know little and make small effort to learn the cus- toms, the needs, the desires of the people to the south of us. They never have appreciated the value of Latin America's trade. If they knew the truth they would see that it holds more of promise, more of possibility, more of profit than does the trade of Europe. To command the commerce of Latin America the United States must do .as Europe does — furnish a market for Latin America's securi- 418 THE GRAYEST 366 DAYS ties. That is a function the stock exchange can perform. The value of a stock exchange in the promo- tion of business is incalculable. Without the stock exchange New York would lose much of its power and prestige. The exchange is a great machine for the marketing of money or what represents money. When New York is a market place for Latin American securities Amer- ican money will flow into Latin American properties, and not till then. Europe would not have looked with favor on South African and South American investments if they were not of profit. England never would have controlled so much of the world's trade but for the floating of her oversea's developments on the London stock exchange. The growth of Germany's foreign commerce was coincident with German investment in foreign properties and the mar- keting of these securities on the Ber- lin bourse. And what has South America to list in our market place? Brazil,, in railroads, has more mileage than Italy, and the Argentine nearly as much as Great Britain. Peru has oil fields, gold fields and silver fields. Bolivia has tin deposits greater per- haps than anywhere else on earth. The Amazon and Orinoco valleys have wealth in rubber beyond esti- mation. The hardwood forests of northern South America have been touched and little more. There are iron deposits in plenty and copper beds that it will take centuries to ex- haust. South America is a treasure house in natural resources. And the commerce of this land, which naturally we should control, will be Europe's again if the United States does not use the key that opens wide the door. The key is the market place of money, the stock exchange — July 18, 1916. THE DEMOCRATIC FOREIGN TRADE If the administration has one hobby preferred before all others, it is the fostering of our foreign trade. They will go to the country in November with the claim that the present enormous totals of our ex- ports are the final proof that we need four more years of Democratic rule. Whoever has seen an analysis of the present export situation knows that it is due to the war. What are our main items? Wheat, because the Dardanelles and Baltic are closed and the Russian supplies locked up. Meat products, because of the vast consumption of fighting armies. Powder and cartridges, shells and guns. Horses and mules to pull the guns. Steel, brass and copper to be made into more am- munition in Europe. Barbed wire, leather for harness, saddles and shoes. Surgical instruments. Mil- itary clothing and blankets. Motor trucks for army transport; oil to run the motor trucks, aeroplanes, war vessels. Those are the present elements of our export trade. They developed with the war and will vanish with it, no matter who rules at Wash- ington. The test of fitness to rule is the record of peace. In the year before the war, when the Demo- cratic Underwod tariff was in oper- ation, we saw imports flooding into OUE FOREIGN TRADE 419 the country and American working men walking the streets for want of work which the violent Underwood tariff reductions had transferred to foreign producers. That is what the administration does for the American working man. The war came and saved him from his friends. The Democratic policy is one of developing our imports, not our exports; a policy of fur- nishing employment to foreigners, not Americans. We judge a party by its peace record, for we are be- fore long to face peace and its prob- lems.— Sept 5, 1916. Trade War After the War THE WORLD IN A TRADE WAR Peace between the armies of Eu- rope may come at any time (the sooner the better!)] but its coming will mark the beginning of the fiercest war for trade ever indulged Ul by the nations of the world. There is to bo no peace in thai struggle for a great many years to come. Nor will it bo confined to Europe. The United States is to bo in it — perhaps the center of it. Here is the richest market oi the world for the manufacturers and merchants of other nations. It may well be assumed as a certainty that thov are eagerly awaiting the day V ft c^ • when they can bombard our shores with their products. That is more in their minds than any possibility or desire to bombard us with guns. •Our government at Washington, therefore, will face the task not only •of defending our manufacturers from this intense foreign competi- tion bound to come at home, but also to clear the way for us, as much as governments can do so, in the markets of the world. We. too. have goods to sell to other nations besides our own; we. too. must real- lie that our enduring prosperity no longer rests upon our home markets. We have outgrown them and must hereafter regard the world as our trading post. England already senses the men- ace to her over-seas trade as a sure consequence of the war. The Morning S of London, recently asked its readers: 'ilow are we go ing to meet this menace?" It added: "Military victory is stdl far awaj : but even military victory will not save this nation if it is won br- others and not by ourselves and is accompanied by commercial defeat." The Post, "like other English newspapers, insists that Germany is even now ready to launch a tierce campaign for international trade conquests, ami calls upon England to resort to a protective tariff as the Only sure wa\ to meet the coming invasion o( German manufactures. The whole trend o( the foreign press is in the direction of heavy tariffs to protect the industries o( each nation, and o( aggressive gov- ernmental efforl to develop sea traf- fic. England undoubtedly will build a wall around herself and her col- onies: Germany will do the same. It is beyond question that wherever her military control is asserted, whether in Belgium, Poland or in the direction o( Constantinople and in Asia. Germany will follow it with tariff regulations that will place the trade o( that section within the power o( German manufacturers. Apparently, therefore, we are to see huge tariff walls around Kng- land and the territory she will con- trol after the war; around Germany and the territory she will control: around France and Russia. Japan will follow the example. It is not pleasant to contemplate J If Alii-: WAR AFTEB THE WAR 121 i}i<: nation- of tfi<: world ringed with heavy tariff dutlS : >;' ; ,; I ' ; >eh other like trenchef in the present war, each signii fierce deter' ruination to lei no intruder get by. — Oct Z8, 1915, OUR TRADE AFTER THE WAR The task of the new internation- al trade corporation ii by no me) as me. It. h.. pitfalls, it hai j' '- ; ' taclei made almost in- rmountable by tradition, alliance and nationality opposed to ns. For the moment war ha-; minimized < difficulties, but war must ha an end, and it- ending vrill mean the unption of the sundered tie* of rope with the rest of the world, io far a thai may be possible. It ii true that Europe will I own industrial and financial problem- at that time, and they will be of no trivial character; but for ages Europe has realized, as this intry has only faintly begun to realize, that enduring national pr< pel I - on a nation'-, ability to sell to other! not on its ability to sell to itself. That nrell-demon- . fad not going to be for- gotten abroad. England, Germany and France have a ripe experience back of their national policy of encouraging in- diyidual e n terprise in foreign trade and clearing tne way for expansion. This experience and the fixed in- •.' tmente tin e made in South America and elsewhere as part of their trade exploitation will con* ie to give them a telling advan- tage over new competitors for busi- In addition, their war-irn- poverished condition at home will accentuate their zest for trade abroad. In this country our manu- facturers will fee! the sharp results of Europe's upbuilding efforts af- U r the v/ar. and unlev-; our tariff ip. adjusted to the new couditfc we will have an unprecedented in- flux of foreign goods, produced on a working cale in and bo incomparably harsher than the American scale. Our own homo market, is not. t.o be. the only object of attack, however. The foreign trade corporation launched will find its efforts chal- lenged in f;vf« ry worth-while market, it -.< i . •' trading house and bank in England, Germany and Frana ry shipping Line con- trolled by those countries, and national foreign policy shaped deci ' experience and unchang- ing governmental purpose will engaged in a unified determination to bold their old supremacy against the competition of Americans. doubt the shrewd men back of this foreign expansion enterpi fully realize all flfis and have made tboir plans to meet permanent con- ditions nitbor than temporary, war- duration one--. No doubt they are prepared to make e e foreign investment! not in trade itself but to develop and command trade, [n brief, they have got to put Ameri- can capital into railway mine- and other form- of industrial activities in these foreign counti is order to establish American trade relation- of a substantial character. Mr. Vanderlip and hi are the kind of men who know what they are about, and who plan far ond the horizon of the ordinary business man's rision * heless snnot know, for no one knows, to what extent our government at 4:22 THE GRAVEST ;U!G DAYS Washington will prove a helpful fac- tor and ally in the consummation of their hopes. As a nation we have no consistent record as a seeker for foreign trade outside of that which comes to ns because il cannot go elsewhere. Our war munitions trade is an example, It is ours through no effort o( our own, hui because we alone ran supply the needs of others. That is characteristic of substan- tially all our export trade. Wow could it be otherwise when we find a Bryan destroying by one stroke of his pen as Secretary o( State our Long-sought opportunity in China, for instance? On March 3, 1913, this government was com- mitted to participation by American bankers in the memorable six-power loan to China.. On March l. 1913, this government formally disavowed all connection with or interest, in the matter. Our "open-door" to China closed with a bang! Is it surprising that it should close? Domestic trade cares for itself, but foreign trade only follows a na- tion's flag. It has to be hacked up by a consistent and encouraging national policy, and, above all, it must have the protection which a nation's flag is presumed to assure it under all conditions. Hrvanizintr our national attitude toward Amer- ican property interests or American trade in foreign countries means making both extinct. A John Hay, an Elihu Root, a Philander Knox might develop a helpful policy for years, hut if, through the accident of politics, a Bryan is so placed of- ficially that he can reverse their in- telligent labors, the effort is in vain. The result in China, had as it was. was trivial in its cost to Amer- ican trade compared with the mil- lions upon millions of American in- vestments in Mexico hopelessly wrecked by the refusal o( Mr. Wil- son and Mr. Bryan to protect them. No American citizen with a dollar legitimately invested in Mexico has had his government's protection, or even its interest in his fate. On the contrary, he has heen regarded at Washington as though he were a gambler who must take his chances with the cards as they fall, rather than as a business man of enter- prise in whose secured rights the government had a direct and un- changing interest. Lei us hope that the Yanderlip corporation signifies not merely a new enterprise engaged in foreign trade, hut a new attitude by the nation toward a foreign trade for our ex |>anding country — an attitude that means a lixed government pol- icy of helpful co-operation and of stern assertion of our citizens' rights in every land. Such a national policy has given England a foreign trade, Germany a foreign trade, France a foreign trade.— Nov. 36, 191-5, AFTER BATTLES A TRADE WAR While the German guns are thundering at Verdun, the powers of the Entente are perfecting a com- prehensive project \'ov a continuance of the war against Germany with commercial weapons after the sword shall have done its work. The continental system deyised by Napoleon is child's play in com- parison with the scheme of com- mercial exclusion or discrimination which Great Britain, as the financial leader of the allied powers, is re- lying upon to cripple Germany for TBADB WAR AFTER THE WAR 423 tnany years to come after the sig- nature of the coming treaty of peace. 1 1 this projed is put in ef- fect, German trade will be circum- scribed by a commercial anti-Ger- man alliance, to comprise all the allied nations and their colonies. The basis of this alliance, as out- lined by the London Times, will be the exclusion of German commerce for a terra of years to begin with. After thai will come a long period during which German products will be so hampered by tariff duties and other burdensome restrictions that it will have a hard tune to penetrate the harriers. All this elaborate structure of trade warfare is based upon the as- sumption thai the present alignment of powers will continue after the close of the presenl hostilities. There Lg no guarantee of perma- nence in this grouping of forces, the result of the military necessities of the hour rather than of traditional tendeneie- or a logical community of interests. Nobody who looks under the sur- face of things would be astonished to see, in the decade immediately following the present war, an en- tirely new association of nation-. The spectacle of Great Britain allied with Germany to resist Russian ag- gression is not so startling as to be unbelievable. Neither is the possi- bility of united action between Rus- sia and Germany in a new struggle against Great Britain. Finally, it must he remembered that commerce is not, in the long run, governed by sentiment or by political expediency. The producer must sell at the most remunerative market; the purchaser must buy at the least expensive source of pro- duction. In any event, the attempt, to divide Europe into two camps, separated by an arbitrary wall decreed by statesmen, doe- not promise the suc- cess which its promoters expect. — March \, 1916. THE ENTENTE AGREEMENT The text of the agreement reached by the eight power- of the entente in the course of the greal war coun- cil held in Paris is the most for- midable international compact that ever has been drawn up. Jt comprises "unity of military action, assured by an agreement con- cluded between the general staffs; unity of economic action, whereof this conference has regulated the reorganization and unity of diplo- matic action which guarantees their (the allies') unshakable will to pur- sue the struggle until the victory of the common cause is obtained." The potential result of such an agreement, taken at its face value, would be the domination of Europe for at least a century by the powers which have signed it, with the as- sumption of the crushing of Ger- many as an incident in an unpre- cedented triumph of arms, economic resources and diplomacy. But underneath the apparent unity of purpose if an undercurrent of discord, the result of conflicting interest touching the very lives of some of the nations involved. Russia, despite her formal ad- herence to the agreement, is deter- mined to obtain unrestricted posses- sion of the Dardanelles. Great Britain, for reasons which cannot be altered by any state paper, is equally determinted that Russia shall not attain that goal. Any 4? 4 THE G HA VEST 366 PAYS great power established at Constan- tinople and controlling the Darda- nelles wonld menace England's road to India. That fad cannot be altered by any declaration, no mat- ter how solemn or high-sounding. For this reason there can be no "unity of military notion" between Russia and Groat Britain. Any Russian army that marched to the Persian Gulf would never withdraw from there voluntarily. And Groat Britain, for reasons in- herent in the heart of her Indian policy, would he hound to make every effort to prevent the arrival of a Russian army at the mouth of the Tigris, This circumstance suggests another wide gap of disagreement between Great Britain and Russia. Then there is Italy, whose policy already has interfered seriously with the success of the entente in the Balkans and elsewhere. It was the entrance of Italy into the war, with the assumed pledge of terri- torial profits in Asia Minor, of which the Italian press made no seeret. that forced Greece into maintaining her neutrality at a time when the alignment of forces in the Balkans was in complete doubt because of Bulgaria's delay in announcing her choice. In order to placate Greece, the powers of the original triple en- tente dispensed with Italian aid in the Balkan campaign, and the cam- paign ended disastrously for Serbia ami Montenegro. And then, for reasons of her own. Italy refused to participate in the campaign in Asia Minor. France, too. has her grievances — and they arc material. There is a strong feeling in Paris and in the French trenches that Great Britain has by no means done all she could have done to offer up her part of the sacrifices on the west front. Tboro is a suspicion that she has been reserving her resources in men and material for her own purposes at a later stage in the operations. Such a feeling of resentment cannot contribute to a complete "unity of action" as between France 1 and Great Britain — whatever the French dip- lomats who signed the agreement may say about it. In war. as in peace, the force and effectiveness of international agree- ment i\o not derive from the acts of statesmen. They proceed from the interests and feelings of peoples. With so many cross-currents of na- tional sentiment and national inter- ests deflecting the course of the united and mighty river which the entente desires to direct to the de- struction of the central powers and their allies, the agreement of Paris is not so formidable a fact as it is designed io be and as it looks on the surface.— Mo rch 30, 1D16. TO DAY OR TO MORROW? 'Manx American business men are beginning io ask themselves whether Great Britain is really making a su- preme effort to manufacture all the war material she uses. There is no diminution in the volume of war orders, for both munitions ami sup- plies, placed in this country. Eng- land seems content to keep a large part of her industry employed in making the products of peace, to ex- port to neutral countries — a busi- ness that will last long after the war is over. England seems quite content to let us put a larger and larger por- tion of our industry at work produc- ing for her those things whose pro- '1 BADE WAR AFTBB THE WAR 425 (taction ceases with the war of which they are a part- It if particularly simple for her because ire do not require her to pay for what she buys. Our manufacturers are paid by our bankers, who take Anglo- French bonds, or future promisee to pay From London vre hear thai the British ••■.port- of textiles are ap- proaching normal. The textile workers could be turn';'! into muni- tion workers and the making of b tiles for South America and India eould be handed over to the United States. But somehow this does not seem to occur. One would think that all British iron and steel won would be making war materials. But they are not. Some of them are making cast iron pipe. A few days ago Mr. Sweet, assistant secretary of com- merce at Washington, told us in New York that American- had ' the sale of $1,000,000 of cast iron pipe for the Argentine. We lost it because the rate from New York to Buenos Ayres, on the British steam- which do our carrying for as, suddenly found to be 100 per cent, over the rate from Liverpool to Buenos Ayres. A fundamental of the ocean rate structure has always been identical rates to South Amer- ican ports from New York, Liver- pool and Hamburg, so that manu- facturers of all three count: would be kept on a parity. Evidently there are workmen in England making cast iron pipe who are to be protected by the recent British rate differential againsi us. Our cast iron pipe manufacturers can of course get a sub-contract to make shells for England. But that a real substitute for what they are deprived of? Britain i- looking further ahead than we an-. Some day peace will come. When that days COmes our bankers mu-t g a reckoning. They have had entrusted to them the employment of our fund- and the determination of the channels in which industry and labor find thern- emploved. Will our ind trial force- emerge from the war ong and confident, masters of the opportunities which this war ha--; brought? Or will our finaneial Leaders have to reproach themsel for having sold the birthright of our future on the markets of the world for a mess of wartime prosperity? — April II, 1916. A BOYCOTT AFTER THE WAR It is nat ural that, under the -' of aroused passions, one of the groups of warring nation- should consider the possibility of boycot- ting the trade of the Opposing group after the elo-e of the war. If the plan.-; imputed to the conference of Pari- eould be carried out, Germany and tier allies undoubtedly would be put to it to re-establish their .shat- tered foreign commerce. Bui even in the British empire there are men who have serious doubts of the feasibility of such a project. Mr. William Morris Hughe-, the Australian delegate to the conference, said in a published interview the other day that the in- terdependence of nations in the modern world will make such a boy- cott impracticable. Mr. Hughes pointed out that the attempt to shut Germany out of the market- of that part of the world which U now closed to her would result in the exclusion of Germany 426 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS as a purchaser as well as a seller, and that such an event would con- stitute a heavy blow to British trade in the period of commercial and economic reconstruction when Brit- ain will stand in the greatest need of purchasers. The entente plan of a Chinese wall of commerce is based upon the conviction that, whatever the out- come of the pending clash of arms, the struggle between the nations now at war will be continued for many years to come. And this dis- tressing point of view is as strongly held in Germany as in England and France. Friedrich Xaumann, the eminent German thinker and pub- licist, presents his views of the future of Europe in the following lurid colors : After the war fortifications along the frontiers will be erected wherever the possibilities of war may exist. New Ro- man walls will spring into existence ; new Chinese walls, made of earth and steel and barbed wire. Europe will have two long walls from north to south — one from somewhere on the lower Rhine to the Alps and the other from Courland to either right or left of Roumania. Side bv side with this alignment of irreconcilable military forces. Mr. jSTaumann discusses the possibility of an Austro-German economic alli- ance, designed to give the Germanic race a dominant position in a hostile world. Both of his propositions as- sume a continuance, by arms or by commercial and industrial weapons, of the conflict which is now devastat- ing Christendom. Xaumamrs conception of the future of Europe is as appalling as that indicated by the activities of the Paris conference. For the sake of civilization it is to be hoped that the policy of neither alliance will be governed by such a spirit of mutual hate and suspicion. — June 17, 1916. ETERNAL WAR Those who hope that this war will be the last war gaze with dismay at plans which lay the basis of certain wars in the future. The allies have declared economic war upon Ger- many, to be continued after the mili- tary conflict is ended. These plans contemplate the carrying into effect of the threat of Walter Runciman, president of the British Board of Trade, to so fix Germany that she will never lift her head again com- mercially. Our country has just received a report of the economic programme adopted by the conference of the allies June 17. The allies agree, after the war. to give each other preferential trade favors and to pro- hibit or restrict trade with Germany. The plan generally talked of, and no doubt to be adopted as a specific measure putting into effect the general programme of the allies adopted -June 17, is for each of them to have a tariff with three scales of customs duties. Each of the present allied countries will charge the low- est scale of duty on goods imported from one of the others. The next highest duty will be levied on goods imported from a country that has been a neutral in this war. The highest scale of duties, in some cases prohibitive, will be laid on imports from the central powers. This means that Germany is now challenged to fight against a pro- posed starvation and destruction of half her people, after the war is over. These people lived on the TEADE WAE AFTEE THE WAE 427 proceeds of Germany's exports. They must starve or leave Germany, for the markets where they earned their bread are to be denied them. It is a dark and desperate future, and Germany must fight till the last man falls, rather than accept it. For belligerents who take these measures to say that they do not de- sire the destruction of Germany but only the destruction of "Prussian militarism" is to play with words. This programme proposes the com- plete destruction of Germany's eco- nomic life. It proposes a dismem- berment of the German empire in a sense more complete than any mili- tary success could hope to attain. Germany now knows she must win the war or face a permanent crip- pling of her national life. What of England's proud rejec- tion of the imputation that she en- tered this war to destroy the com- mercial competition of Germany? How does this plan of economic de- struction fit into Great Britain's de- fense of the German charge? If the allies are able to put this programme into effect, the central powers will retaliate with a great customs union of their own. The world will be divided into two hos- tile armies, facing each other in their economic trenches. The present neutrals of the world will be stranded in No Man's Land between the trenches, exposed to the cross fire of both sides and offered the protection of neither. In dim outline we see arising a situation of international hate, war, revenge. The wisest statesmanship will be none too wise for Washing- ton. Let us look to our defenses, military and industrial. — June 20, 1916. TRADE KNOWS NO WAR PASSIONS Never before in the history of the world has it been so futile to at- tempt to prophesy the developments of to-morrow. The relations of na- tions, their control over their own destiny as well as the destiny of other countries, are changing like a kaleidoscope and are affected by conditions which no one can fore- see. The war has thrust the whole world into a fiery crucible, out of which almost anything may come in most surprising form. Take our own future as a nation, for instance. It ought to be reason- ably safe to forecast the course we are to follow the next six months, the conditions we are likely to face and the results to us as a nation. Yet no sane man would attempt to do so. Our relations with other na- tions are inextricably bound up in the decision now being fought out in Europe, and, in a lesser sense, in our difficulties with Mexico. Nevertheless, conditions and pros- pects with us are more nearly nor- mal than with any other nation. We have only to keep that fact in mind to realize how far out of bal- ance the whole world is and how much like trying to measure eter- nity it is to attempt to define to-day the attitude of nations toward each other when peace shall once more reign. • Hence it seems to us that the gentlemen from many countries who have been conferring in Paris for the purpose of controlling the trade of the world in the interest of the allies, after war ceases, have a very flimsy basis on which to predicate their planning. It would be equally 428 THE GRAYEST 366 DAYS absurd for Germany and her allies to attempt such a thing. Trade knows no war animosities. It has a short memory for every- thing except a fixed purpose to do business. After war ends the pound sterling of an Englishman will look as good to a German tradesman, and vice versa, as the dollar of a Yankee. Both may have been glaring savagely at each other at rifle's length the past two years; but when the drum beat ceases English, German, French, Russian and Austrian will work out their industrial salvation on the old basis of skill, energy, or- ganizing ability and salesmanship. That is the history of all after- war periods. It is conspicuously il- lustrated in the intimate relations of Russia and Japan to-day. It will be so, despite the conferences in Paris, after Europe settles down again to business. — June 22, 1916. A LEAGUE OF NEUTRALS There are only four possible ways in which the war can end: by an allied victory, by a Teutonic vic- tory, by a partial victory of either the allies or the central powers, or by an absolute deadlock. Any one of these events would bring to the United States peace problems in- finitely more serious than those which have confronted us during the war. Tbe same problems will con- front otber neutral countries. It is high time for us to bind them to us in a league to protect our interests after the conflict. Consider the possibilities of an allied victory, and the effect upon our commercial future. The eco- nomic alliance agreed upon by the allies assures that our exports will be discriminated against in Eng- land. France, Russia, Italy, Rou- mania. Serbia, the colonies and do- minions of these countries, Japan, China (a dependency of Japan) and the territory which, in the case of victory, the allies would take away from the central powers as the re- sult of the war. Whatever would be left of the central powers would probably be compelled to grant to the allies preferential treatment for goods coming from the allied coun- tries. The very excellent prospect is that the only open markets left for this country would be European neutrals and the American conti- nent, between the Rio Grande and the Cape Horn. If the central powers should win an outright victory, the result would be in no way different. In that case it would be the enlarged territory of Germany, Austria, Bul- garia and Turkey which would be shutting us off from their trade and forcing the allied countries to grant them preferential treatment. In the case of a partial allied or Teutonic victory, we should have two great independent groups of countries en- gaged in discriminating against each other and against us in favor of the members of the group. If the allies win, our wheat to England and France would have to pay a higher duty than wheat from Canada and Russia. Other neutral countries would be similarly af- fected. Brazilian and Dutch coffee would be discriminated against in favor of products from the allied countries. Argentine fodder would lose its British and European mar- kets to fodder from allied sources, such as Japanese Manchuria. Mexi- can petroleum would be discrimi- nated against in favor of the Rus- TRADE WAR AFTER THE WAR 429 sian product, and Swedish lumber lose its markets in the allied coun- tries to the Russian and Canadian product. Spanish would be dis- criminated against in favor of French wines. The losses to all of these coun- tries, at present neutral in this war, would be very great. The easiest way to protect themselves against such a policy is to unite. Neither of the groups of belligerents can, after this war, disregard us if we all act together. It is not at all im- possible that by united effort we could force our way into the prefer- ential treatment granted by each group to its own members. Thus we should become more favorably sit- uated than the participants in either group. Not even the strongest of them could afford to disregard the markets of South and Central Amer- ica, the United States, Spain, Swit- zerland, Holland, Scandinavia, if these countries jointly threaten both groups with retaliation for any dis- criminatory charge imposed against us. Even if the united strength of this neutral group was insufficient to wholly thwart the proposed ex- clusive tariff groups, the United States would have every advantage from forming and leading such a neutral customs union. Because we should be the strongest industrial member of it, we should have the sole ascendency in a group of mar- kets not at all incomparable with the present warring groups. It is time for the administration at Washington to cease its aloofness from the neutral countries of the world, and unite with them for the protection of our joint interests during the war and after it. The time to do this is now, before more of us are driven, at the point of the bayonet, into the conflict, or else compelled to join one of the eco- nomic groups proposed by the bel- ligerents.— Sept. 12, 1916. THE END OF THE WAR Whether the war is soon to end or not,' men are actively speculating as to its outcome. There is a limited, number of ways in which it can end, and, as all the present conditions are passed in review, the events which in each case could bring about the end stand out sharply de- fined. First, the central powers may be beaten. This would be brought to pass by a crushing defeat in the Balkans and the Carpathians, with the resulting military collapse of Austria. Or the same result might, come about through the economic starvation of the central powers with respect to some essential of in- dustrial or military life. Such an outcome is by no means in immedi- ate view, but there is no doubt that the majority of persons in this coun- try think it more likely than any other result. Second, the allies may be beaten. This would be brought to pass by the desertion of Russia from the al- lied ranks, by the financial collapse of England, or by the economic star- vation of England through a suc- cessful submarine campaign. While at this moment these events seem less probable than similar disasters to the central powers, they are by no means beyond the realm of reason. If Russia were convinced that the allies could not win against the Ger- mans, Petrograd would have every- thing to gain by throwing in its lot l.V THE GRAYEST 3(56 DAY9 w iose whom us assistance .iKl he . ■■. \ i fcoi 5 in an) so, Uuss .-. would probably have mon ::tin by participating in I Peutoni* than in a British victory, mans have no interests .: would prevent the Russians from realising their aims. The Bril ish have such interests in the Suei ( anal, India and China, \> for finances, Great Britain is now bearing nearly the entire bur den for the allied countries, and the dtinuance of tinann.il support. both in British and foreign markets, is dependent upon continued nuh fcarj success Finally, the subma- rine campaign, It must be kepi in mind that a German submarine lign, which torpedoed indis- minately everything going in and out of England, would take a totally different toll oi British (ood car ns than is taken by the present submarine operations, restrained by the exercise of the law oi visit and sou The other possible outcomes are a partial victory for ono Bide or a doadhv ! A partial victory for the allies could be won In driving Germany out of France and Bet gium, lis fruit woidd probably be the annexation by France oi Ger- man territory as far as the Rhine, the loss o\ the German colonies, an indemnity for Belgium, probably the loss o( East Prussia to Russia, and large territorial concessions by Aus- tria to Italy, Servia, Roumania and Russia, A partial victory for the central powers would be won if they Could maintain the status quo and persuade their enemies that it could not be altered. By trading upon their present advantageous situation the central powers could probably include in their peace terms the re- covery of their colonies, an inde pendent Poland, an open route to Constantinople, and Ihe abolition oi the intended economic trade war of the allies. A deadlock would mean a return to the status quo before the war Each one oi these possible results presents to the limed States severe problems after the conflict It is tune to cet down to the facts oi the case and consider our situation in each one of these events >'(■.'. 13, L91ti COMMERCIAL BOYCOTT OF THE UNITED STATES It is difficult to diagnose the strange hypnosis that overcomes a part o( our press when reading the diplomatic documents that gro\* out oi our relations with Great Britain l'\er\ now blow at our present and our future is construed into an act of almost royal benevolence. If there is anything that we should be alarmed about, it is the proposed discrimination against our goods by the allies, in favor o( each other's goods, after the war. If the same action is taken bv the central powers which is b\ no means im- possible we shall be crippled in the leading markets o( the world. Great Britain has not waned for the war to end to institute this pol- icy, She has started it now. She has begun to modify her prohibition oi the importation o( certain goods into England, a prohibition hud for the double purpose of enforcing economy upon the people and for making ship room free to carry war freight. The modification is to a] low certain of the prohibited goods to come in, not from us. but from TRADE WAR AFTER THE WAR 431 France alone. The news is con- tinued in the following cablegram from the American consul-general in London : The French government has opened ;> special office in London for the granting of licenses for the importation Into France and Algeria of British goods un- der import prohibition in those countries. Arrangements have been made whereby French exporters of goods on the British prohibited lisl may apply to the French ministry of commerce for approval of applications which will then be transmit' ted to British Board of Trade import restrictions department in Paris, thus enabling French exporters to overcome, existing British restrictions. The State department is deeply alarmed over this action, which not only contravenes the "most favored nation" clause of our eommercial agreements with Great Britain, hut also establishes the precedent of not only discriminating against our trade, but even boycotting it alto- gether. The Washington correspondent of the Detroit Free Press, however, ■ >■- in this measure a balm to the feelings of Americans already out- raged by Great Britain. This is the way he figures it out, in a dispatch to his paper : 1 1 may be a great surprise to some to learn thai there an; even now in ex- istence British restrictions upon trade between the allies, it will be soothing to the offended Americans to learn that Great Britain has not confined tier edicts to neutral commerce, hut has felt the compulsion of war so heavily as to lay an embargo on British exports, not even excepting her sister ally, France. No one but this Washington cor- respondent was ignorant of the fact that British import prohibitions were prohibitive, and affected all countries, including France. To all the rest of us the new London measure means that Great Britain has begun to open for her allies the gate she keeps barred to us. — Sept. 23, 191 G. Merchant Marine "PICKING UP" A MERCHANT MARINE Bernard N. Baker, former presi- dent of the Atlantic Transport Company, and more recently an in- timate counselor of President Wil- son on the government-owned ship- ping proposal, laments the fact that the failure to pass the administra- tion's bill last winter prevented at that time the purchase of control of the International Mercantile Marine Company. He points enthusiastic- ally to the current quotations for In- ternational securities, and estimates that on the rise the government would have cleaned up $70,000,000. Of course, there is no way of as- certaining whether the government could have "picked up" control of this shipping corporation last spring in the stock market in the manner that so many "war brides" were taken over by speculative optimists. Shrewd manipulation of the tape, backed by ample government funds, might have landed a majority of the stock in the Treasury department at Washington before the operating owners of the ship company were aware of what was going on; hun- dreds of stockholders might have sold during the distressing times of the early war period, and the gov- ernment might have made a hand- some stock market profit besides get- ting possession of a shipping cor- poration at bankrupt prices. Is such the purpose of the admin- istration's ship purchase bill ? Is Mr. Baker's lament over the lost op- portnnit y shared by Secretary of the Treasury McAdoo? Is the govern- ment to seek profits — even of $70,- 000,000— out of a bull market in war stocks as well as control and direct the development of a mercan- tile marine ? On the other hand, suppose peace had come last spring — after the gov- ernment had purchased the Interna- tional Mercantile Marine — and the shipping of the world had resumed its competition for American trade, at what price would the securities of this company be selling in Wall Street to-day? Would there be a $70,000,000 "advance or a $70,000,- 000 decline? How would the $70,- 000,000 depreciation be carried on the treasury books? These questions, prompted by Mr. Baker's statement, reveal the peril of establishing a shipping corpora- tion, with 51 per cent, of its stock in the United States treasury and 49 per cent, scattered in private ownership. Of course, the govern- ment's stock would not be affected by Wall Street quotations, but Wall Street quotations would be seriously affected by the government's policy from time to time in directing the ship corporation's business affairs. In the days before the federal re- serve act it was always worth a point or two on the "granger" stocks to know how much money the government would release for crop- moving requirements. Happily, un- MERCHANT MARINE 433 der the present law, the Treasury's action is no longer a factor. Money moves freely in response to legiti- mate demand. How much more se- riously, however, would the govern- ment's course (or rumors of its course) affect the quotation of a corporation, the stock of which was in part government owned and in part privately owned? Having taken the government out of Wall Street in one instance, why put it back in another? The demand of the country is for a merchant marine. There are only two ways of establishing it. One way is that urged by Secretary of the Treasury McAdoo. It means government-owned ships, operated by the government in some in- stances, leased to private corpora- tions in other instances. The Dem- ocratic Congress refused last winter to indorse Hie McAdoo plan, but the administration is determined to force it through the approaching session if it is possible to do so. It does not now seem possible. The alternative way is to en- courage private capital to build, own and operate ships. This is the plan followed by every other na- tion. For years it has been urged upon Congress by practically every commercial organization in the country. It has back of it also a world-wide experience. Its oppo- nents yell "subsidy," however, and the politicians in Congress fear to indorse it. They lack the courage to go back to their constituents and frankly state that they have voted sensibly and according to sound business judgment on a business proposition. Between Secretary McAdoo's the- ories on one side and the dema- gogic cry of "subsidy" on the other side, the nation's real interests are sacrificed. We have no ships to carry our products to the markets of the world; we have no ships to attend OUT ball led ret as auxiliaries in the e\15. by 8. S. McGlure. The first and most vital need of this country is the military pre- paredness necessary in order that this nation shall be safe interna- tionally, that we shall be able to protect our own coasts, to protect the isthmian canal, Alaska and the islands where the American flag floats. In the end there is just one way for a democratic country to meet its obligations in this mat- ter, and that is by universal mili- tary training. This is the only democratic method. The citizen who does not tit himself to light for the coun- try is not entitled to a vote in de- ciding that country's policy. A man should no more be permitted to "volunteer" to stay at home in time of war than to "volunteer" not to pay his taxes in time of peace. But one of the main reasons why I advocate the Swiss system of uni- versal military training is because such service and training would help us to national solidarity and cohesion, and would enable us to do our duty in time of peace infinitely better than at present. The men who have had military training would be more self-respecting, more loyal to the nation, more law- abiding and with a greater sense of responsibility to themselves and to others. In especial, they would un- derstand that our haphazard sys- tem of social and commercial devel- opment to-day cannot continue if we are to hold our place as a great nation. MERCHANT MA 1 1 INK 135 Preparedness in Peace There e;m be no real prepared besfi i" perform our duty in I tine of \v:ir miles- I here 18 prcpa red ric--. to do our duty in time of peace. Of eoiir.-e. the most i m port ;i tit of all types of preparedness is thai of the spirit and the soul. This comes first, if we are to get the proper social and business preparedness; and in the same way it, is proper social and hiisiness prcparedir that lies at the bottom of mili- t.ry preparedness. Germany's history shows this. It is her social and in- dustrial efficiency thai has given her military efficiency. There are two or three essenl ials for this nation to understand a- re- gards such preparedness in and for the work of peace. It is, in the first place, necessary that, we shall do justice to each individual and in return exact justice from him. Busi- ness must he encouraged and con- trolled ; the rights of labor must he secured; and in return labor must be required to acknowledge and live up to its obligations toward the commonwealth as a whole. Thorn is much that labor can gel only by the co-operation of many different influences and factors — schools, doctors, hospitals, expert - of all kinds; it is only through the government that such co-operation can be organized. Such co-opera- tion should he given by the govern- ment, acting for the people as a whole, and in return the fullest per- formanee of duty and loyalty should be required. German Social Advantage Germany has been far in advance of us in seeuring industrial assur- anee, old-age pensions and homes, a reasonably fair division of profit- between employer and employed, and the like lint -he has also been far ahead of us in requiring from the man who toils with his hand-. jusl as much as from the man who employs him, loyalty to the nation. Capitalist and wage worker alike must he required not merely asked, hut. required as a matter of righl in the fullesl and mo-i un- grudging manner to acknowledge the prime duty of loyalty to this great democratic commonwealth, of loyalty to our Hag, which sym- bolize- 30 much of the hope of the modern world. The effects of the recent shipping Legislation upon our Pacific coast shipping trade illustrate just exacl ly what ought, not to be done in all such legislation. The farmers of the law wcvf well-meaning men outside of political life. They had not thought deeply enough of the effects of the law. The politicians who enacted the law were interested in rotes and not in national well- being. In consequence, the effeel of the law has been to impose such re- quirements upon the American owners that the American flag has practically disappeared from the Pacific. The law provided elabo- rately for the welfare of the Ameri- can sailor — and did it in such fash- ion as absolutely to eliminate the American sailor from the Pacific Ocean. Now, this ought to show our peo- ple that when we control business in the public interest we are also hound to encourage it in the public interest, or it will be a bad thing for everybody and worst of all for those on whose behalf the control is nominally exercised. We ought, 436 THE GBAVEST 366 DAYS as a matter of course, to insist upon securing the welfare of the Ameri- can seaman, but at the same time we must make it worth while, as a business proposition, to run the American ship on which the Ameri- can seaman works. If there is no American ship, there will be no American seaman. Laws That do Harm It is eminently right to pass laws in the interest of American seamen, of American workingmen, of Amer- ican farmers and shippers. But if these laws make it impossible for the shipping interests, for the rail- roads, for the great business con- cerns, to do business at a reason- able profit, they create a situation far more intolerable than that which they endeavor to remedy. Big business must be controlled, but it must be encouraged also. We must shape our policy so that no man is allowed with ruthless brutal- ity (and as Lloyd George has re- cently said, unlimited and ruthless competition puts the greatest pos- sible premium upon ruthless brutal- ity) to oppress the general public or his competitors or the men in his employ. But it must be our aim also not merely to tolerate his activity, but to encourage it, to encourage and aid him in making a profit, so long as that profit is secured by serving the general public and so long as there is a reasonable division of the prosperity among all contributing to the prosperity. We must get over our absurd fear of recognizing lead- ership as a necessary factor in busi- ness, entitled to full reward for the responsibilities it assumes. Need Unity of Action This object cannot be accom- plished by a chaos of forty-eight states working at cross purposes in the development of our interstate and international industrial fabric. We cannot have industrial justice so long as we have forty-eight differ- ent codes of laws governing acci- dents in factories, sanitary condi- tions in factories, old-age pensions and the like. Neither can we have efficiency in our international trad- ing so long as our industrial com- panics operate with licenses from any one of forty-eight states. There is absolute need of a larg- er nationalism it* we are to make this country as efficient as Germany is efficient, and if at the same time we are to secure justice for our people. Germany has outdistanced us in her industrial efficiency J and now it is for us to show that a democratic government which guar- antees personal liberty is not incon- sistent, with such industrial effi- ciency. It is our opportunity, and our highest duty, to show that such ef- ficiency is compatible with democ- racy. Germany has taken care of her working classes at the same time that she has taken care of her business interests. Her programme has been constructive and not de- structive. Destructive, Not Constructive Over here, on the contrary, the programmes that have been put into effect have mainly been purely destructive programmes; and our effort has been to take care of the working classes bv hitting at busi- ness interests, instead of encourag- MERCHANT MARINE 4.*57 ing business interest* at the lame time that we insisj that they them* selves take care of the wage work- ers and do them full justice — jus- tifro in wages, justice in housing, justice in sanitary condition:-, JUS- tice in every shape and way. We nni-t ;i- a rial ion u nd'-r-.tand tin: evolution that ha- gone on in the world, and our country must begin immediately a big, broad, constructive course of action on the line- indicated, if we arc to hold Our place IS the industrial world of the future. So much of the regulation at- tempted in our country in the past has been done by demagogues or by heedless politicians interested only in their own momentary political success that the very name regula- tion has become an offense and an abomination to many honest busi- ness men. The men who believe that big businesi should he controlled in the general welfare ought to be the first to insist that the welfare of the bus- iness itself should be our first con- sideration, and that the regulation should be done by experts with not only business experience, but busi- ness M-ion, who recognize that the corporation — including the big cor- poration — is not an artificial and wicked creation for sinister pur- pose-, but an inevitable outgrowth of modern industrial conditions, and an indispensable instrument in as- sembling capital, labor and leader- ship in the shape necessary for the efficient performance of the tasks of the modern business world. A Syracuse Instance Let me illustrate. Recently I was in the office of a big concern in Syracuse which owns a line of trad- ing steamers on the upper great Jake-. This concern is incorporat- ed in Maine; but none of its bn ness 1 done within a thousand miles of Blaine. Ets business office is in Syracu Under the law it is required to name the nearest port as its home port; and :-o it has named Oswego. But none of its vessels have ever gone to Oswego, and they n<:\ar can go, except by sliding over Niagara Falls. The vessels run from a city in Ohio to a city in Minnesota, and touch several cities in different states between them. Now, can there he imagined a more absurd system than that which leaves such a corporation under state control, the state in question being one which has not the slightest connection with it? Of course there should be national con- trol find encouragement of such a corporation. Recently a great company has been started in New York to aid in the commercial development of this nation in the international field. The probabilities are that tins company will perform work of the very highest usefulness for the United States. But it had to go to Albany for a charter! It cannot go to Washington and obtain a fed- eral charter. What Germany Would Do If that company was in Germany, it woidd be organized under impe- rial German laws, and it would be aided in every way by the national help and prestige; and, on the other hand, it would be supervised so that no injustice could possibly be done by it to German citizens. It is on THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS its face an absurdity to hope that the a> poration, with only the backing of an individual state, can do as well in the fnture inter- national competition as a corpora- d intelligently backed by the na- tion. There are exceptional cor- porations of great power which can struggle alone under such condi- tions, but they are the exceptions, and. as a rule, the German corpora- tion will beat the American cor- poration under such conditions. Moreover, the American corpora- tion may very possibly act in such way as to need neither supervision nor regulation — doubtless the great poration o\' which 1 speak comes in this class. But it is not safe to treat this as a rule. It is not safe to continue to permit a corporation to be chartered in one state and then be allowed to run wild through the forty-eight states without the slightest thought or care by any governmental authority as to its fu- ture operations and as to whether Or not they are fair, open and hon- orable in regard to stockholders, consumers, competitors and em- ployes. Nor on the other hand is ii right to permit the well-behaved corpora- tion to be continually harassed for alleged violation of technical and conflicting and often impractical state laws Preparedness in the Air One of the Leading a\iators of the country has just written an article in which he says that he has little doubt that within a very few years airships will he practical for carry- ing mails and valuable commodities ^\' small bulk. If this prophecy be even approxi- mately correct, how is it possible that there can bo anything resem- blmg state control of these opera- tions in the air: Surely we should now be studying the possibility of this condition and he ready to meet it when it vloes come, and not wait until we bump into it and then wonder what we are e»un«: to do about it. Preparedness for this kind of new condition in our industrial life is an absolute necessity if we are to have a proper type of preparedness to protect the nation. Men who do not understand how Germany's industrial system is worked speak as if it were all done only by supervision and interference on the part o\' the government, and. iii consequence, by the destruction of all individual initative. This is not the fact, Unlimited private competition in business may result in the elimina- tion o\' private initiative, just es actly as under a system of unlim- ited private competition in politics. unregulated by law. the usual re- sult is a despot with all the power and nobody else with any power. Countries that are free politically are countries in which the political activity oi die individual is regu- lated. The same is true industrially. Holds Business Responsible In Germany the government does not interfere in the private affairs o( a business except where it abso lutely must ; but it makes the men responsible for managing that busi- ness take hold in conjunction with their employes and in conjunction with the government authorities to see that justice is done. The em : plovers and the representatives of MERCHANT MA WINK 439 I he employes sit around :i table and reach a decision on such mal ters as, for example, the employmenl and i>;i\ nii'iii of doctors who are to pass in expert fashion on indust rial aci | dents, I have In mind exactly Buch :i case, ;i case where the employes belonged to the Socialisl and Centre parties and the employers did oot, and where they were politically Op pOSed, hill w here I hey inel as ;i mal ter of common sense and business around a table to discuss something I Ikii was of common interesl to all of them and to those they repre sented. One of the prime reasons why I advocate universal service on the Swiss or Australian model is be cause through such service we" shall achieve lhat national cohesion, that national solidarity, which will en able us to deal efficiently with our indust rial problems. We should at once begin govern- mental encouragement and control of our munition plants. To make war on t hem is to make war on t he I'niled States; and those doing so should he treated accordingly and all who encourage them should he treated accordingly. 'The plants should so far as possible and as rap idly as possible be shifted west of the Alleejianies, Pittsburg being as far east as they OUghl hv rights to he. There should lie a great plant in the southern iron fields the iron tields whose development was ren- dered possible by the wise action of the I 'nited States <^o\ eminent in permitting the United States Steel Corporation to secure the Tennes- see t 'oal and I ron ( 'onipanv, action which has since heen passed on and approved by the federal courts. These greal corporations should be encouraged In everything that makes them efficient, hu! they should be controlled also, so as to see that their employes ^el their fair share of the prolits and thai their housing and Living and work ine,' conditions are such as to en able them to rear their children as self respecting American citizens of t he great A merican democracy. First Duty of Government Military preparedness of the kind I advocate will help us toward social and industrial preparedness in lime id' peace. Will lei it he re membered that no preparedness in time of peace avails unless there is < he military preparedness also. Belgium and China have tried i he experiment, ami t he results have heen lamentable. It is of no con cern now to the poor Belgians what they wish to do in lime of peaee, heacuse they have heen unahle to protect themselves in t Ime of war. Scl f preserval ion is I he lirsl duly of a government, and therefore the lirsl duty of tins government is to protect itself by potential armed power. This preparedness should he based upon industrial and social efficiency in I ime Of peace, and can not reach a high point unless there is such industrial and social elli ciency. But it is itself the only means of Securing Hi"' peace that permits Of social and industrial jus- tice. Dec. 4, L915. OUR FLAG ON THE PACIFIC The pui-chase by the American I nlernai ional Corporation of the seven old and small ships of the Pacific Mail line, that have long 440 THE GRAYEST 366 DAYS been operated between San Fran- cisco and Panama and intermediate ports of Mexico and Central Amer- ica, brings into prominence the fact that the American flag has by no means disappeared from interna- tional trade on the Pacific, a fact which is even more emphasized by the circumstance that only recently the American Spreckles line, which operates ships between San Fran- cisco and Australia, has added a new vessel to its fleet, a fleet that employs American crews. It is unlikely that the American flag will disappear from the Pacific. It is likely that under it, afloat, Americans will have a better chance in the forecastles of the ships than hitherto they have had, and that will be a decided advantage to the United States. Already American lines are being planned to operate to the Orient under the American flag, and in time the American flag doubtless will be seen more than ever before upon the Pacific upon merchant ships, commanded, offi- cered and manned by American citi- zens. The ships just purchased by the American International Corporation are old and small, as the following table will show: Net Tons When Built Asrec 2.298 1804 City of Para 2.504 lST* Newport 1.S06 1880 Pennsylvania . . . 2.567 1872 Peru 2.540 1S92 San Jose 1.538 1S82 San Juan 1,496 1882 The American International Cor- poration has secured the firm of William E. Grace & Co. to operate these ships. Grace & Co. now oper- ate a fine line of new American- built ships between New York and the American ports of the Pacific, and it has for a great many years operated a line of ships under the British flag between New York and the west coast of South America. The strategic value of the route which has come into its possession, and the organization perfected by the Pacific Mail line along the coast of the Pacific, will be of the great- est value to the Grace Company, and should result in profitable business for the corporation that owns the ships.— Dec. 16. 1915. WHAT WILL THE UNITED STATES DO? Secretary of Commerce Eedfield hinted, in a speech he recently made in Brooklyn, that the United States by law might prevent the foreign registry of vessels now under the American flag. This would be in accord with steps recently taken by the governments of the great mari- time nations to forbid the foreign registry of ships under their flags. This is no new departure. An agreement was entered into on Au- gust 1, 1903, "between the Ad- miralty and Board of Trade (of Great Britain) and the International Mercantile Marine Company" and British steamships acquired by the latter, as a condition precedent to their ships remaining under British registry, sections 3 and 4 of which read as follows : 3. No British ship in the association, nor any ship which may hereafter be built or otherwise acquired by any Brit- ish company included in the association, shall be transferred to a foreign registry (without the written consent of the president of the Board of Trade, which shall not be unreasonably withheld) nor be nor remain upon a foreign registry. MERCHANT MARINE 441 Nothing shall otherwise be done whereby any such ship would lose its British registry or its right to fly the British flag. 4. British ships in the association and ships that may hereafter be built or otherwise acquired for any British com- pany included in the association, shall be officered by British subjects, and as regards their crews shall carry the same proportional number of British sailors of all classes as his majesty's govern- ment may prescribe or arrange for in the case of any other British line engaged in the same trades. The word "association" used in the section applies, according to the terms of the agreement, to "the Oceanic Steam Navigation Com- pany, Ltd., Frederick Leyland & Co. (1900), Ltd., the British and North Atlantic Steam Navigation Company, Ltd., the Mississippi and Dominion Steamship Company, Ltd., the Atlantic Transport Company, Ltd., and the International Navi- gation Company, Ltd." And the agreement extends the same condi- tions to other ships and lines of ships under the British flag that may subsequently be acquired by the International Mercantile Ma- rine Company. More latterly the British govern- ment has required ships under the British flag to obtain licenses from the government defining the routes and areas within which the ships may operate. This establishes a policy that gives the British govern- ment complete control of not only the sea-carrying but the oversea trade of every foreign country de- pendent or partially dependent upon British ships for its conduct. There is a whole world of sugges- tion in these precautions so fore- sightedly and astutely taken by the greatest af maritime nations to re- tain safely under its own control the merchant ships under its flag, and to limit, as seems best to British in- terests, even the commercial use of such ships. There are those, having eyes, who sees not, having ears, who hear not. So far, in our interna- tional relations, we seem to be of that class. Shall we remain so until the end?— Dec. 27, 1915. WHAT HOLDS THE UNITED STATES BACK? Common sense consideration of our merchant shipping problem should make plain the impossibility of its solution by methods that would accentuate rather than relieve the intensity of foreign competi- tion. Our people have gradually drawn out of foreign carrying dur- ing a period of over half a century, a period during which our foreign rivals have increased their ocean- going tonnage enormously, largely to accommodate our foreign com- merce. This gives them the van- tage ground of knowledge of and experience in the intricacies of in- ternational trade, which present- day Americans are unfamiliar with. Our foreign rivals also have the ad- vantage of cheaper construction and operation of ships than our own people in the beginning, could hope for. Add to this the various aids, financial and otherwise, that for- eign governments that realize the value of a merchant marine of their own are disposed to extend in every way possible to those of their na- tionals who are engaged in maritime pursuits, and it becomes more and more apparent that, lacking govern- mental encouragement, those of our people who might be disposed to invest in American-built ships for 442 THE UK A VEST 366 PAYS foreign trade will not make the ven- ture. Cheapness is not, nor should it be. the sole objective of a nation in establishing and maintaining a mer- chant marine of its own. That pol- icy has never been applied to our navy, the personnel of which is three times more expensive than that of our nearest rival. Efficiency is of far more moment to the nation than cheapness. Depending, for example, on Foreign shipbuilders for our ships, in the very moment of our greatest need may they not fail us; Depending likewise upon aliens for the officering and man- ning of our merchant ships, of what avail will they be to the nation in the event of war? Manifestly our national necessities in respect to a merchant marine of our own in- clude home-built ships navigated by dependable citizens of our own. As private capital will not supply sueh a marine without ungrudging gov- ernmental support and encourage- ment, not at all for the benefit of either shipbuilders, shipowners or seafarers, hut for the welfare and safety of the nation, liberally en- couraging laws must precede the es- tablishment of an American mer- chant marine in foreign trade. When in 1883 the United States entered upon the construction of its new navy. American shipyards were unprepared for and their men were unfamiliar with sueh construction. The construction was entered upon from a condition that may be de- scribed as "in the raw." The de- mand for warships was constant, and the supply was routined to the United States.' What followed? Ex- isting shipyards supplied themselves with the men and the facilities that supplied the national demand : new shipyards were established, and the work progressed rapidly and suc- cessfully. Most of the warships were built at or below eost. the competition between builders was so keen. Thirteen years later in his last annual message to Con- gress, speaking of our warships, President Cleveland said: li is gratifying to state that our ships and their outfits are believed to be equal to the best that can bo manufactured elsewhere, and that such actable reduc- tions have been made in their cost as to justify the statement thai quite a num- ber of yossols arc now being constructed at rates as low as those that prevail in European shipyards. Having succeeded in so brief a pe- riod in constructing warships — the most intricate, difficult and expen- sive of ships — as well and as cheap- ly as they could he built abroad, if, by law, a demand is created for merchant ships equal to the needs of our foreign carrying, why should not our people build them as well and as cheaply as they are built abroad if the supply of merchant ships were confined to American shipyards? Had the building of our new navy, in L888, been thrown open to foreign competition, is there reason to believe that American shipyards in thirteen years would have built warships as well and as cheaply as they were built abroad? If the building of our merchant ships is thrown open to foreign competition, what reason is there to believe that. American shipbuilders will attempt to meet the competition? We be- lieve, however, that the policy pur- sued in building our new navy, that it shall be wholly home-built, in ten or fifteen years would bring our cost of merchant ships down to the level of foreign eost, or below it. MERCHANT MARINE 443 merely by increasing the skill and efficiency, but without reducing the pay of American workmen, which constancy of employmenl would no doubt accomplish. Tin' United States will decide to build a navy equal to the strongest possessed by any other nation. At the same time it musl decide to build a merchant marine equal to all of the needs of American foreign commerce. In a score of years our navy and our merchant marine would be unmatched in all the world, and, by re-establishing our maritime independence, we would achieve, and thereafter retain, our destined position upon the 3eas. — Jan. 3, 1916. HAVE BRITONS GONE MAD? Nothing but sheer desperation could cause the British government to issue two most remarkable orders in council, affecting British ship- ping. These are the order creating the ship Licensing committee, which issues licenses defining how and where British ships may be nsed in foreign trade, and the order forbid- ding the use of British ships by Ger- man-Americans, as well us (human subjects residents of the United States, "or any Americans unfavor- ably disposed to the cause of the allies." Nothing could be more cal- culated to arouse the maritime spirit of non-maritime nations, and to force tbem to create and maintain, at whatever expense may be necessary, merchanl ships of their own, for the preservation of their foreign com- merce. Sovereign peoples now de- pendent upon British ships for their oversea transportation, in whole or in part, must submit to British reg- ulation as well as conduct of their foreign trade, or free then; from further dependence upon Brit- ish shipping. Germans declare they are fight- ing for the freedom of the mt the Licensing (and thus the limita- tion of the uses) of British shipping in foreign trade is calculated to ac- celerate what, the Germans profess to aim to accomplish. Correspon- dence from London suggests that the purpose of this Licensing is in- sidiously to safeguard British ship- ping against the growth of alien shipping, lest, in time, freedom from such dependence is secured. In order to rivet British maritime dominance upon the world at large it is suggested that the licensing plan will be followed by the eom- pulsory execution by aliens depen- dent upon British shipping of con- tracts by which nothing but British shipping will be nsed for long pe- riods of years. "In support of t ; theory," says the correspondence, it is pointed out "that in certain trades between the United States and South America the withdrawal of British bottoms would bring ruin upon the shippers, for at the present moment it would be impossible to secure ships living other dags to take their places." Was that what inspired the order forbidding the foreign registry of British ships without the consent of the British government? The correspondence concludes: If tliis theory is correct, it can be readily appreciated that the licensing plan places a powerful trad'' weapon in the bands of the Hritish government, which will not only enable it to control its own exports and imports, but will give it a tremendous influence ov<>r the sea-borne trade of other nations. Are these orders aimed directly at the United States? Confessedly 441 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS the second one, outlined above, must be, because it singles out German- Americans, German subjects in the United States, and "any Americans unfavorably disposed toward the allies," as those who will be denied the use of British ships. What sort of internal espionage are our citi- zens of German birth, aliens resi- dent in our country, and "any Amer- icans (doubtless meaning native Americans) unfavorably disposed toward the allies," to be subjected to? And what proof will be suffi- cient to Britons to bar our citizens from the use of their merchant ships ? These developments are so un- heard of, so remarkable, and of such deep import, as well to justify doubt in their correctness. They bear all of the earmarks of authenticity, however, but further conclusive con- firmation of the scope of these or- ders in council is awaited. It has long been apparent that it would take some startling upheaval to arouse our people to the menace of longer dependence upon alien merchant ships for the conduct of our foreign carrying, and the im- perative necessity, not alone for purposes of national defense, but for the promotion unhindered of our foreign commerce and the unimpeded development of foreign markets for our rapidly growing surplus products, of dependence alone upon American-built vessels for all of the needs of our for- eign commerce. These desperate expedients of Great Britain's to maintain her control of the world's carrying, and, through such car- rying, control of the world's trade, should be sufficient even to arouse a maritime Rip Van Winkle from a seemingly endless sleep. Will it arouse the United States, and, in sheer self-defense, compel it to establish and maintain a merchant marine of its own equal to all of the needs of its foreign commerce? If it does not, what will the final reckoning be? — Jan. 6, 1916. SINISTER TENDENCY OF SHIPPING LAWS Since 1817 we have denied for- eign ships access to our domestic carrying. Before that our laws dis- couraged but did not prohibit for- eign vessels from engaging in .our domestic carrying. Our domestic carrying includes our trade between our Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and between the United States and Alaska, Hawaii and Porto Rico. Our Philippine is the only trade be- tween the United States proper and its possessions not classified as do- mestic. It will be manifest that much of our so-called domestic, but to an extent oversea, carrying re- quires ocean-going ships. This has long been true of the trade between our Atlantic and Gulf ports, more recently of the trade between Pa- cific ports, and of the trade between ports of the United States on the Great Lakes. But the ocean expan- sion of our domestic carrying, so to speak, since the development of Alaska and the acquisition of Ha- waii and Porto Rico, has brought under our flag a very respectable and rapidly growing fleet of ocean- going American-built steamships. If a census were taken to-day of our documented and undocumented shipping in domestic carrying, it would probably be shown to exceed 15,000,000 gross tons. For almost a century this coun- MERCHANT MARINE 445 try bore the expense of native-built ships for all its domestic carry- ing practically unnoticed, certainly without criticism or complaint. Not until the question of free tolls for vessels using the Panama canal in domestic carrying was the expres- sion ever heard that our colossal domestic shipping, all native built, was "a monopoly," or "a trust," phrases that were intended to dis- credit the law that reserves our domestic carrying for native-built ships. Thus discredited it will be easier to repeal the law, bills to ac- complish which are now before Con- gress. There is no American de- mand for admitting foreign vessels to our coast carrying. "Whence comes such a demand? Naturally from the interests that would be most benefited, to wit : foreign ship- owners and foreign shipbuilders. The welfare of the United States is left out of consideration in the ad- vocacy of "free ships'' in domestic carrying. Such advocacy constitutes a menace, and the admission of for- eign vessels to our domestic carry- ing would constitute a national ca- lamity. We have lost our maritime independence in foreign carrying, and the admission of foreign vessels to domestic carrying would in short order destroy our national inde- pendence. We must prevent it. Until 1912 our laws denied Amer- ican registry to foreign-built ves- sels. That is to say, until 1914, in fact, with the rarest exceptions, ves- sels carrying the American flag at their sterns proclaimed both their nationality and their nativity. Now all of that is changed. Not only are foreign-built vessels welcomed un- der American registry and the American flag — as yet only for for- eign trade — but exceptional advan- tages, so called, are offered to Americans who will bring them under, such as exemption from our inspection and safety laws, and ex- emption from American masters and officers, none of which exemptions, however, extend to American-built ships. American shipping will be wholly American or wholly foreign. At the moment the trend is toward what may be called a foreign American merchant marine, which means American in name but foreign in fact, confined, for the time being, as stated, to foreign carrying, but with bills pending and a strong fol- lowing developing both in and out of Congress in favor of the admis- sion of foreign vessels to domestic carrying as well. A wise and a vigorous national policy would arrest this tendency at once. It would demand the repeal of all laws that admit foreign ves- sels to American registry, it would make it worth while for American capital to invest in American-built ships for foreign trade, and such ships would be wholly owned, com- manded and officered by American citizens. By requiring, as our laws should require, an increasing pro- portion of American seamen on American ships, in a remarkably short time our merchant vessels would be as completely manned by American citizens as the ships of our navy are to-day, and without subjecting owners to an additional dollar of expense. There is no jus- tification for, and no consideration should be given to, bills providing for the admission of foreign vessels to domestic carrying. National safe- ty and national welfare alike de- mand a real American merchant marine, equal in foreign trade to 1 t6 THE GRAVEST 866 DAYS ;ill the requirements of our for- eign commerce, and in domestic ear- rying wholly reserved for native- built vessels. — Jan. ?. 1916. AMERICAN MARINE INSURANCE So Long as American Bhipping is subject to foreign dictation or dom- ination, it will not be an independ- ent American merchant marine. Not for a single instant would Great Britain allow her marine, or any o( the essentia] accessories to the crea- tion ami maintenance of her marine. to be subjecl bo foreign influences or dictation. British laws. British rules, British practices and British customs must be all sufficient for British shipping, and properly so. It is equally true that the merchant shipping of other nations must be free o( foreign dictation if it is to he independent. To-day plans are under way in the United States, if they are not already consummated, the purpose o( which is to subjecl merchant ships built in the United States to the rules of con- struction o( a British classification and rating association, although we have an American classification and rating association whose rules have the approval of different depart- ments of our government, including the United States Board of Super- vising Inspectors of Steam Vessels, boards of marine underwriters, and American marine insurance com- panies. Various reasons art' assigned for the preferences for Lloyd's rules of construction, and for Lloyd's classification and rating, the chief being that necessary marine insur- ance on American-built vessels and their cargoes cannot be placed in London unless the vessels seeking such insurance are classed and rated by Lloyd's or some other British Classification and rating association. At times it is impossible, for the moment, to secure enough insurance on large and costly American-built \c-sds from American marine in- surance companies to i over all of the risk, which necessitates placing at least a part of the insurance in London. As the number and re- sources of American marine insur- ance companies increase the insur- ance o\' American \esscls and their cargoes will he placed with such American companies, which will re- move the chief reason for (he build- ing of vessels in the Lnited States under British rules o( construction, so that they may thus secure British classification and rating, and thus such insurance of hulls and cargoes as is necessary. It is expected that many vessels to he built in the United States will be used as auxiliaries to our navy in time of war. It is neither wise nor desirable that all of the details of their construction should be in the possession o( aliens, and it is desir- able that so far as possible they should be known only in the United States. Again, Great Britain is our chief competitor upon the seas, and in seeking foreign markets for our growing surplus products our peo- ple will be in competition with Brit- ish producers, reasons quite sufficient for our self-dependence upon all of the accessories essential to the build- ing, classification, rating, insurance and operation of American vessels in foreign trade. If tin 1 United States government will say. as it should say, that ves- sels built in the United States ac- cording to the rules of our Amevi- MERCHANT MARINE 447 can hn r-ffi it of classification and rat- ing (which i- not conducted to earn ;i profit ) will he acceptable to and certificated by United States in- specton of '-I-, accessary strength and force will be given to oiii- American association. If, how- 1 i -i-, the rules of foreign classifica- tion and rating associations are equally satisfactory to our gdv- erment, then we may as well expect to remain subservient, as a shipbuilding and, necessarily, as a shipowning nation, to British dom- ination and influences. And, finally, if any alterations are accessary, now or hereafter, in the rules of our American institution, in order to make them the sole reliance of our government as to the sea- worthiness of vessels constructed in the United States, such ehanj should be imposed upon the Ameri- can association and accepted by it, to the end that all the essentials pre- liminary to bringing merchant snips into existence in the United States shall be as free of foreign dictation or influence and as wholly American ;i- are the designs and construction of American warships. — Tan. 11, 1916. PLAIN WARNING BY PRESIDENT WILSON \o Longer is the shipping question confused and obscured with silly suggestions that, heeau.se foreign ships are built and run more cheaply than our- are, it would be econom- ically wise to depend upon them foT the conduct of our foreign carrying, and we hear less and less the equally fatuous suggestion that we should have our ship- built .abroad and manned and officered by aliens, so as to achieve the minimum of "cheap- ne* Clearly and plainly we are Learning thai efficiency is superior to mere cheapness. It i- a long step forward in the right direction. Too little attention has been paid by the press oi the country to the illuminating word- and the dear warnings attered by President Wil- son in discussing, in his message to ( ongress la-t month, the situation respecting our merchant marine, in which he in part said : For it is a Question of Independence. If Other run ion- go to war or geek to hamper each other's commerce, our merchants, it seem . are at th<-ir mercy, to do with as they please. We most their ships, and use them a- they deter' mine. We bare riot ship- enough of our own. We cannot handle our commerce on the seas. Our independence is pro- rindal, and i- only on land and within our own borders. We urn not. likely to be permitted to use even the -hips of Other nations in rivalry in (heir own trad<-, and are without meant to extend our commerce even where the doors are wide open and our goods desired No wonder the President added that "such a situation is not to be endured." A- foreign countries now refuse to allow the foreign re^i.-try of merchant .-hip- under their dags, and as it is coming to be the vogue to issue licenses to their merchant ships describing where, and only where, they may operate, even refus- ing to allow certain peoples, or peo- ple with certain sympathies, to their merchant -hips, soon we shall find ourselves completely harred from foreign markets that would welcome us, unless we are prepared to establish in our trade with them American-built ships, commanded, officered and manned hy our own people. The President is equally clear in this : It is of capital importance not only that the United States should be its own 44S THE GRAVEST 366 PAYS carrier oo the seas and enjoy the SCO nomic independence which only an ade- quate merchant marine would sive it. but also the American hemisphere as a whole should enjoy a like independence and self-sufficiency, if it is not to he drawn into the tangle of Kuropoan af- fairs. The Latin-American republics ask nothing better than the establish- ment of Hno< of American ships in the direct trade between themselves and the United States ; they are most ger tor such linos: they would wel- come thorn and see to it that they were successful. They will support any move along such linos wo may initiate, ami frankly they make dear to us that there will ho no rivalry in the carrying of our commerce- it is all ours for the taking. No longer is dependence upon foreign ships favored, when a President of Mr. Wilson's economic leanings talks like this: Moreover, we can develop no true or effective American policy without ships of our own — not ships of war. but ships of peace carrying goods and carrying much more: creating friendships ami rendering indispensable service to all in- terests on this side the water. We cannot employ alien ships. commanded, officered and manned by aliens, to develop the trade of this hemisphere along the lines sug- gested by the President We must have ships built in the United States, owned, commanded, offi- cered and manned by our own peo- ple, successfully to accomplish all that is necessary in opening up and holding and developing trade be- tween the United States and the peoples of the Latin-American re- publics. We can only come to know each other in that way. Quite regardless o( whether or not a substantial section of our now American merchant marine shall be owned and operated by the federal government until private American capital finds a way profitably to supersede the government Hues, or whether the possibilities o( profit- able business arc made sufficiently attractive to induce American cap- ital to supply the necessary Ameri- can ships in the beginning, the go> eminent and the people gradually are learning the groat truth, that must no longer be obscured, that to increase our foreign trade as the rapid growth o( our surplus products relentlessly compels us to increase tt. then to hold and develop it in line with our own needs and the needs of our foreign customers, American- built ships, commanded, officered and manned by Americans, are the instruments essential to success in such an undertaking. — Jan, 13, 1916. AMERICAN MARINE INSURANCE Some weeks ago. ami again this week. The Evening Mail discussed the subject oi marine underwriting as conducted in the United Slates. and American dependence upon for- eign (chiefly British") marine insur- ance companies to do the larger part o( American marine underwriting. We asked for information as to why so lucrative a business as marine un- derwriting was not extensive enough in the United States to enable American marine insurance compa- nies to cox or American marine risks. In the issue o( the Syren and Ship- ping Illustrated, of London, o( De- cember 89, L915, our question is par- tially answered in the following comment upon our article. The Syren and Shipping Illus- trated was the British publication MKKCHANT MAIifN'K 44') that first offered a prize of £500 rling to the first Briti \\ merchant ship that iron Id rani and sink a Q m;>n tibmarine, and quently it paid that mm to ;t British merchant ship A *.<■< lion Of tbl '• ' H /'/»'/ /'/•'>•■! :i;,'l in'/i' i pecially '/ '/--. Evening Matt I* < on ildei abl rl ovei the i on plain! that United Stated capital I* nol I ' i'/it J v represented in iir.um'- n. ■.>!>••■ b n i : ' vtated thai tbe laffCf (':')» ''■> rin* insurance companies, :>n'J if argued thai t)ii ; '. I* »fi<- resuli of tbe tail ure oi American capii gnize tbe po nibflitie i of if/'- hn ine**, .*in'i A/ri'i lean i lucrative field ' ion Ifarine insurant e tb< i • .-in old ■• itabii bed b i in< whi'ii could uoi have la ted •> long if ii • no i profitable, ■■ujji to conform to B in order to ire in England an in mrance tl ought to be able to obtain in the United State*. Ships, id- rained a< $600 000,000 are annually engaged in cai in« exporf and import! oi the [Jolted which are rained i00,000 000 in normal timea, tbe i-uik of which "'i in <',i< af Britain. Of couree, there hi one obvioua an ivei to tii'-.'- queries, :m'J thai it thai marine in urance bu*ines* i* part and parcel oi sing, and to the country thai po •esses tbe besl mercantile marine H :i natural resuli thai ii will also have the bigg re oi tbe world • mai in urance b iein< There I* another factor, too, irbicfa m-.iV.'- tot tbe oi tbe Britiafa underwriter, h/i. part of the maritime ginating in the United foreign ii e compi rill be 4 to -•■ ■■ •- without in- tence that the ■hall be built ac- ding to I be r lie of the Bril Lloyd's Register of Shippii • o being taken in ' • the American institution under built, in - , and irhicfa institui of ela - ion and rating, tbe hope being that irith ion of An ■\ , i> 1 "'^ in foreign tri oincident to of the foreign commerce of t.h<: CTnited State i ■ on and og of ship ir American i nization will f, pted ;j in London a I- - here. — ./';/. L5, 1916. THE ACUTE SHIP FAMINE 'I : ': whole nation realizes the need of an American merchant marine. The people hare no! are demanding that Congr< (hall enact mes to en- trage, promote and maintain American ships in foreign trade, but eas. In the contract executed between the British government and the Frit- ish Cunard line on July 30, 1903, the company agreed to build "'in the United Kingdom" two steam- ships o( a speed "of from 24 to ZB knots an hour in moderate weather." to run between Great Britain and the United States. In considera- tion o( this. Great Britain agreed to loan the company enough money to build the ships, not to exceed £8,600,000, for twenty years, at W* per cent, interest, and to pay the company an admiralty subvention of E150,000 a year for twenty years, MERCHANT MAIM 463 and further, ated in a "ferei my ininute" oi July 31, 1903, for fche carriage of (he mail- "the sub- sidy ha* been fixed at £68,000 a '» for twenty years. This led to the construction of the steam- ships Lv&itama and Mcwretania, the first of which vva- mo ful to the British government during I period of the war up to the time of ner destruction in carrying war mu- nition- from the CTnited to Greai Britain, and the Mauretama has been equally useful "in hi- maj- ice" during the period of the war. Since our government i o in- tent for a. ri. ixiliary mer- chani marine, a il so eloquent and urgently explains the pressing Deed of precisely such ships, and a thoroughly re >le American amship company offers to build thorn if our government will merely ho as libera] to our American ; as Great Britain has been to the British Cunard lino, what prevents the prompt enactment by Gong] of a bill that will enable our gov- ernment to avail itself of thr-; pa- triotic and generous offer of the American International Mercantile Marine Company? — Jem. 20. 1910. THE GOVERNMENT SHIP PURCHASE BILL Great mystery al *hroud- ed the real purpose of the govern- ment of the United States in at- tempting to persuade Congress to pass a hill that would enable it. to build or buy merchant ships and run them in foreign trade In a fascinating work only recently is- sued under the title of "Economic Aspects of the War" respecting "Neutral Bights, Belligerent Claii and American Commerce in the Y ear L914-1915/' I'rof. JvJwin J. Clapp, of New York University, sets forth "the real reason" wh gov- ernment of the United 6 de- ed to acquire and operate mer- chant -hip- in foreign trade. Explaining in illuminating detail the methxx hook and crook, Great Britain ha- managed to prevent, the proper < of the rights of ci of the United State- in the shipment of non-eon- traband goods to Germai o long Great Britain has failed to estab- lish a real blockade of German poi in which the lack of American mer- chant -hip-; greatly aided Great Britain, I'rof. Clapp states that it the desire of our government to operate in the trade between the United States and Germany --hips regarding whose American owner- ship no question could he raised, that would carry that the United Sti ould guara ere non-contraband. If the h'n - had been able to do that, explains I'rof. ' . it e effectually brushed aside all the subterfuges and expedients to which G B ted io prevent the shipment of non-con- traband American goods to Ger- many, and that ha- enabled Great tain so to eo : andina- vian and Dutcl rnments that they were constrained to enact laws first refusing to re-export to Ger- many import- from foreign coun- tries, and finally refusing ort to Germany the products of the dan countries and the Netherlands, in furtherance of the determination of the British gov- ernment to starve Germany into sur- render. 454 THE GRAYEST 366 DAYS Prof. Clapp states that our gov- ernment did not have the courage to declare its real purpose in seek- ing to acquire and operate merchant ships in foreign trade. It is his be- lief that if the United States gov- ernment had frankly taken the peo- ple into its confidence, explaining the situation, and how our govern- ment proposed to assert and main- tain the just rights of its citizens in international trade, the people would have loyally supported the government and forced Congress to pass the government ship purchase bill. Whether that was or was not 6ur government's purpose last year, is that its purpose this year in re- newing its efforts to pass the gov- ernment ship purchase bill? If it is, will the government, even now, take the people into its confi- dence?— Jan. 22. 1916. THE UNITED STATES AS A MENACE? '"In the world's new era which will dawn after the blackness of the present war. Great Britain will no longer be referred to as a 'nation of shopkeepers.' hut as the nation of .engineers. In days to come, when the history of the war is written, one of the most amazing chapters is that which will tell of the giant of eim-ineerino- o-enins and industrial power which the conflict has called forth from the womb of the nation. Night and day our vast shipyards are unceasingly at work putting forth fighting ships of types heard of and unheard of. and thi > with bewildering swiftness." This is a paragraph from the '"Re- view of Britain's Shipbuilding, En- gineering and Shipping Triumphs," just published by the Journal of Commerce, of Liverpool. When we consider that the naval force already possessed by Great Britain has en- abled her to bottle up Germany's navy and her mercantile shipping, the inquiry is natural, "Whom does England fear?" Surely not Ger- many, upon the sea. If that be true, why are her "vast shipyards un- ceasingly at work, putting forth fighting ships of types heard of and unheard of, and this with bewilder- ing swiftness"? "Night and day" this work goes on. The need, what- ever it is, for additional naval pre- paredness must be most urgent. "Even now, although growing al- most daily, British sea power is so stupendous, so versatile, that if the peoples of the earth could gauge it they would be awed and dazzled by its might, and every Britisher would thrill with pride." So continues the opening chapter of the Liverpool Journal of Com- merce's "Review." "The mighty engine of war" which is being per- fected "will slowly hut surely grind our enemies until its task is com- pleted." Of course, a disclosure of details is forbidden, "hut it is due to the whole empire to realize that these undreamed-of and unmatched feats are due to the men who con- trol and manage our shipbuilding yards and engineering works." The "free ship" policy with which, sixty-five years ago. Great Britain beguiled the rest of the world into allowing her shipbuilders to build the merchant ships for all the world is bearing fruit. For almost two- thirds of a century the world has been contributing to the perfection of the "shipbuilding yards and en- gineering works" of Great Britain, and, of recent years, no single nation MERCHANT MARINE 455 has contributed more in this direc- tion than the Germane themselves. And now this perfected machine, useful alike for war as well as mer- cantile shipbuilding, over night, as it were*, becomes "the mighty engine of war, which will surely but slowly grind our enemies until its task is completed." Because mercantile shipbuilding, for the time being, has all but ceased in Great Britain, all of her shipbuilding resources and all of her skilled "engineers" are de- voted to the single purpose of per- fecting England's "mighty engine of war" that is to enable her to tri- umph over her enemie-. "The scientific power, the engi- neering skill, the vast capacity of enterprise, the inexhaustible re- soureefulness exerted by these great captains of industry, form a force that all the world power- could not match." Proof of thi- a.-sertion lies in the fact that, devoted as Great Britain has been during the year 1915 to perfecting in every way possible her naval resources, it is her proud boast that, in mercantile shipbuild- ing, the product of British ship- yards was double that of all the rest of the world. But. besides this, they are giving their mental and physical energies not shorter in hours or less keen in zesl than the efforts of the captains of war. They do not figure before the nation officially, nor does the lurid flare of actual battle silhouette them before the public eye: neither do they figure in the limelight of the parliamentary arena. But they are the untiring creative and mo- tive powers which will enable the empire to "win the world's greatest war — and a war which is essential- ly an engineering war. Tenaciously, and with a conscious and a subconscious purpose that i never relaxed. Greal Britain has held fast to the world's shipbuilding, the real source of true sea power. Deny- ing Britons the right to register foreign-built snipe as British as long as it cost more to build merchant ships in Great Britain, and yielding the right to Britons to register for- eign-built ship- .1- British only when British-built ships were cheaper than foreign, the "free ship" policy of Great Britain, never intended to put foreign-built vessels under British registry, has been successful in put- ting British-built ships in prepon- derating numbers and preponderat- ing tonnage upon the registries of all other nations. The resources, latent but existent, possessed by the [Jnited States suf- fice to enable this nation to dupli- cate and quadruple all of the "ship- building yards and engineering works" possessed by Great Britain, and to achieve a supremacy in the building of warships and merchant ships outmatching British war and merchant ships in thoroughness and in cheapness of construction. We possess the means, but seemingly lack the incentive, to be not only sufficient unto ourselves in ship- building for war and for commerce, but for a larger part of the rest of the world than (ireat Britain has ever yet served. A hundred and twenty-five years ago, speaking of our marine. Thom- as Jefferson truly said that "as a branch of industry it is valuable, but as a resource of defense it is ential," a great truth he had completely grasped, but of which his countrymen are still strangely ignorant, a truth, however expressed, that has been the mainspring and 456 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS the unswerving guide of British objective and British energies. And to-day England reaps the reward of her foresight and acumen, while the rest of the world is completely sub- servient to her sea dominion. "The trident of Neptune is the scepter of the world." and Great Britain is Neptune.— Jan. 25, 1916. OUR DOMINATION OF OVERSEA TRADE They say that after the war we shall be the great exporting nation of the world. It will be a decade before the German and English fac- tories and exporting organizations recover their stride, and by that time we shall have a firm grasp upon the trade of South America, Africa. Asia and Australia. Perhaps. But who will do our carrying to those oversea markets? English and German ships carried over three-fourths of it before the war began. English ships carry nearly all of it now. After peace will England and Germany continue to carry our products to a market for which they are starving? The matter is worth considering. To-day no British ship operates from America to anywhere but Eng- land except under special license. All of our shipping to Australia and most of it to South America is oper- ating under special licenses of the British Admiralty. What if Eng- land should withdraw those licenses after the war is over? What if Germany should then institute the same system? Such withdrawal would rapidly break our war- won monopoly of the competitive markets of the world. Such withdrawal would aid in the very rapid recovery of the British and German foreign trade. After all, why should the German and British ships help us in keep- ing their own nations prostrate? We could not claim ill will if Eng- land and Germany took this action. They may need the ships for their own trade. During the war they have built few merchant ships and lost many. They will be short of tonnage. Should they stint them- selves to serve us? It is every man for himself. It is the United States for a mer- chant marine as soon as we can get one.— Jan. 27, 1916. THE "CHEAP" MARINE FALLACY No nation has been so educated as has ours to believe that only through the possession of a merchanl marine in every essential as "cheap" as that possessed by other nations can the United States expect to acquire and operate it profitably in foreign carry- ing. How often we hear people, dis- cussing this subject, say that there must be "equality of conditions" of competition between American and. foreign shipping, that the United States "must find some way" by which its merchant ships can be op- erated as cheaply as foreign ships are operated. Many people believe that our commercial and maritime success is dependent upon as "cheap" an American merchant . marine as any foreign merchant marine. A moment's straight thinking will dissipate this fallacy. It costs more to operate British merchant ships than it costs to operate the merchant ships of any other nation save alone MERCHANT MARINE 457 the United States. The over-mas- cess. A hostile atmosphere sur- tering success of British merchant rounds American shipbuilder and shipping completely demonstrates shipowners, and still we wonder that the fallacy of the proposition that a they are not successful. Forever nation's merchant ships must be they are accused of being, or eager operated "as cheaply" as those of to become, "thieves," "robbers," other nations. There are many "grabbers" and "treasury looters." ways by which Great Britain, and A large part of the nation so regard those Britons engaged in the differ- them, and forever the pr<- in- ent branches of shipping are able stilling such thoughts in the peo- to overcome the single item against pie's minds. them of cheaper cost of operation. There is a widespread belief that There is the closest and most friend- American capital, especially Amer- ly co-operation between the British icans with capital to invest in ship- government and British shipowners ping, should establish an American and British shipbuilders. Both merchant marine in foreign trade shipbuilders and shipowners are re- and successfully and profitably keep garded, in Great Britain, as among it there. Really, individual Ameri- the strongest pillars of the empire, cans are quite unconcerned regard- They possess, to a degree that we ing the nationality of ships they in- would regard as quite amazing, the vest in ; all they care about is "a confidence of the government and profit," and reasonable hope of their the respect and esteem of the peo- capital returning to them, hence pie, and justly so, since the busi- their investment in and control of nesses in which these are engaged 2,500,000 gross tons of ships under have made and now maintain Great foreign flags. It is the United Britain as the dominant nation of States, as a nation, that needs an the earth. American merchant marine in for- So conscious are the British peo- eign trade — not at all the ship- pie of the inestimable benefits their owners — and until the United States shipbuilders and shipowners confer finds a way for American capital to upon the nation that there is never find as safe and as profitable an in- objeetion to the government doing vestment in ships under the Ameri- whatever its leaders regard as neces- can flag as they now find in ships sary to foster, maintain and promote under foreign flags American capi- both British shipbuilding and Brit- tal will continue to invest in ships ish shipowning. Where subsidies built in other countries and operat- are necessary they are paid, not in a ing under foreign flags, enriching niggardly and suspicious manner, as the builders of ships in other na- though the shipowners sought to rob tions, and thus strengthening and the government, but with a con- fortifying upon the sea the nations sciousness on the part of the govern- under whose flags they operate their ment that the purpose of the ship- ships, while the United States re- owners is to serve the empire. The mains weak upon the sea. Mani- very atmosphere in which British festly, the fault is not with the shipbuilders and British shipowners American investor in ships. It is live is conducive to that self-confi- in his government, his countrymen dence that is essential to their sue- and their newspapers. The fault is 458 THE GEAYEST 366 DAYS with the United States as a nation. —Jan. 28, 1916. AND WE? "Weld & Co., of Liverpool; one of the largest cotton houses of the world. Writing under date of Janu- ary 12, hate this to say : Later on. perhaps, when the bulk of the world's crops have been transported, and especially if Lancashire mills are threatened with the necessity of closing down owing to shortage of cotton — in our opinion, a very remote possibility — it may be possible for the government to bring pressure to bear or devise means for the bringing over of cotton in great- er volume ; but at present how is this to be done, when war supplies, munitions, grain and foodstuffs are all fighting for freight room? Wheat, in spite of the government's proviso that a large per- centage of the freight room available must be reserved for foodstuffs, shows a bigger percentage of increase in the rate of freight than cotton. It may be that pressure will become so great that the government may release some of the ves- sels now commandeered for war purposes, and this may relieve the situation a lit- tle, only we are inclined to think that quite insufficient tonnage can be released to bring any real and definite relief. In the meantime, rates of freight are still advancing. Beautiful prospect. And where are the ships tc come from to transport the many Ameri- can products other than cotton, grain, foodstuffs and war material? What are we coming to ? — Feb. 4, 1916. THE GOVERNMENT SHIP BILL Chairman Alexander, of the House merchant marine and fish- eries committee, has explained the main features of the government ship bill he introduced on Monday. which is favored by Secretary of the Treasury McAdoo and President Wilson, as providing for : the initial sale of Panama canal bonds to the amount of $50,000,000 for the pur- chase or lease of merchant ships; the appointment by the President of a federal shipping board of three men of large practical experience in the conduct of foreign commerce, who. with the secretary of the navy and the secretary of commerce as ex-officio members, will constitute the board. The federal shipping board is practically everything. It is em- powered to organize a corporation to lease, buy, charter or build mer- chant snips. So far as possible the ships are to be American built; the foreign-built ships acquired to be limited only to foreign trade. The stock of the corporation is to be offered for sale to American citi- zens. If private capital fails to pur- chase the stock the hoard will oper- ate the vessels, but not in routes where American ships now operate. In conjunction with the Interstate Commerce Commission, the ship- ping board may allow railroads to make special rates on freight car- ried in these government owned ships both to and from the country in foreign trade. All vessels in domestic and for- eign trade are required to obtain revocable licenses, without which they cannot engage in our trade. The shipping board is to possess power to regulate water-borne freight rates, a power Only to be used in extremis. The shipping board is also to examine into our navigation laws and recommend such changes as it believes will fos- ter the growth of American ship- ping. MERCHANT MARINE 459 The vessels are to be subject to the command of the government, whenever required for auxiliary naval purposes. The statement is made that, whenever private capital feels able to relieve the govern- ment from the operation of mer- chant vessels in foreign trade, the government will withdraw. Another, feature is a naval reserve, open to officers and men for voluntary en- listment, who will be paid sums fixed in accordance with their rank. It is known to shippers and ship- ping men, but perhaps not to the general public, that rail rates on goods for export from, and on goods imported into, the United States are substantially less than the rates charged on domestic freight. If it be the purpose of the government to limit such reduced rail rates in future only to exports and imports in American vessels, the discrimina- tion would alone suffice, in respect to exports from or imports for in- terior points far enough removed from the seaboard to constitute a substantial difference in the cost of such goods, thus to create a demand for American vessels. German state- owned railroads long have thus favored goods carried in German merchant ships. It is improbable that the licenses would discriminate in favor of American vessels, but one of their chief purposes will be to discrim- inate against vessels participating in pools, rings, combines or "con- ferences," the purposes of which are to apportion the number of vessels engaging therein, amounts of freight they may carry, rates thev shall charge, rebates they may allow. The powers vested in such a board should enable it greatly to promote the upbuilding of a real American merchant marine in for-, eign trade, whether owned by the government or not. Indeed, there is a possibility that private Amer- ican capital might, at the start, see its way to relieving the government of any participation in the opera- tion of government-owned ships in foreign trade, especially if the ad- vantages were such as to benefit shippers as to cause them to prefer to use American instead of foreign ships. Much will depend upon the sources at the command of the gov- ernment to bring tonnage into use for foreign trade not obtainable by private capital, as to wb ether or not the bill will command public favor. Disclosures on that head will be eagerly awaited. There are suggestions of reserve powers in the possession of the government, now to be availed of for the promotion of American shipping in foreign trade, if wisely exercised by the federal board it is proposed to create, that will render entirely unneces- sary any government participation therein beyond supervision and reg- ulation that shall promote instead of abridge the growth of American shipping in foreign trade. The gov- ernment will have to establish, very clearly indeed, the need of govern- ment operation of merchant ships. To be sure, present prices of ships are tremendously high, but so are freiglit rates. It ought to be pos- sible for private capital to purchase any ships purchasable by the govern- ment, and. freight rates considered, there should be no difficulty what- ever in inducing private American capital to invest in all of the ships that are available — all that the gov- ernment may be able to purchase. If that be so, the government will •n;o THE GRAVEST m\ days have to put up a convincing case o( the need of government operation of merchant ships in Eoreign trade be fore Hs scheme will command the public's favor. F«o. I. L916. "WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN » [f the Onited States had never abandoned its protection <>t' its ship- ping hi foreign trade, as it never has abandoned its protection o( shipping in domestic trade, and as it never has abandoned its protection of other American industries Bubjeot to foreign competition, it would un- doubtedly n«>\\ be tin 1 Leading mari- time nation. Not only was thai pro- tection gradually suspended, but when Greal Britain three quarters of :i century ago began subsiding her steamship lines tin 1 United States followed suit, under Polk's administration, and for thirteen years matched subsidy with subsidy in the transatlantic trade, finally withdrawing if in L858, to the ruin- ation of American linos and to the salvation o( British shipping. Mui had the early successful, pro tective American maritime policy been maintained unimpaired our shipping in foreign trade would have grown greater with tho years, wo would long ago have been build ing ships for all tho world, and ships under the American Bag would have continued, as Webster expressed it, "to leave no seas unexplored," no ports unvisited, no foreign trade un- shared. The destruction of protec tion Led to tho almost utter efface- mont o( shipbuilding, especially for foreign trade, although this country always possessed and si ill possesses in the most prodigal abundance everything essentia] to shipbuilding, materials and men able to design and build modern ships. I n i ss) i J. Kenniker Heaton, an eminent member of the British Parliament, notable for his postal reforms, was moved io exclaim As a consequence of refusing live mil iioi>s a year In subsidies during thirty yours to native ahip owners, or $150,000,- 000, the United States bad to pay in the same period no less than $8,000,000,000 for freights, while their mercantile me rine dwindled into insignificance Since then that loss of three bil- lions has been augmented to eight or ton billions and our merchant marine in foreign trade has all but \auishod. Those hillions have strengthened our Btrongesl rival in foreign trade and upon the sea, while we have grown weak and in significant. It', at tin 1 outbreak o( (Ins European war, we had had an American merchant marine equal to the needs o\' our foreign carrying, we would then have been at least eight hillions o( dollars richer than we are, and during the period o( this war our ship owners would have earned enough to pay for their ships several times over. If the freight rates had been ea orbitant, they would have been paid lo our own people, and the money would have remained in the United Slates, and our marine would have been trmendously strengthened and augmented, foreign markets would have Keen open for our exports, our foreign trade would not be imper- iled, and, most o( all, ouv maritime independence would have saved us from the ever-increasing danger o( its serious dislocation or utter de si met ion, hoeause wo lack ships o( our ow ii with which to conduct our trade. Feb. 16, 1916. MERCHANT MA KINK 401 WHAT THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD DO A complete reversal of national policy in respect to merchant i bip- f * j / 1 ^' should I"' made forthwith. The most libera] I ; i w s should at once be enacted that will cause the erection of e goodly Dumber of additional modern American shipyards. Every variety of merchant ship useful in foreign trade should I"; built; ships of the scout and auxiliary crui er type, of the Mo/wetania class, to be operated in trans-Atlantic trade; also ships of combined pa engei and freight-carrying capacity, useful for troop ships, munition hips, also useful in trans-Atlantic trade and trans Pacific trade ; ships of inferior types, of (tic kind most aseful in the trade wii h Soul h America, ( 'en tral Amerioa, the West indies, Africa, Australia and the Orient, adaptable for coal and oil fuel ships, for supply ships, hospital hip , and every kind of use that the govern- ment in time of need would have for them. The United States need-: such shipi as the e for the uninterrupted continuance of its foreign trade, and for the further development of that trade where opportunitie are most favorable; and the nation needs such ship* for the different auxiliary naval purpose:-: ;dre;, dy al- luded to. 'idie United States has been too niggardly, loo parsimonious, too cheeseparing, too suspicious of everybody concerned, in all rn related to the development of an American merchant marine. All of that in iid. he changed. It, cannot ho changed too quickly, nor loo com- pletely. Even prodigal liberality would, probably, ho mosi economical in the end. The dependence of the United States on foreign merchant ships for its foreign carrying if? fraught frith too many dangers to he continued a moment longer than is necessary. Ai, once the encour- agement of Amenean huilt ships should ho provided for. Americans hould he induced to officer and man them. This country must ho independent of all of the world in the sou roes of its Supply of rnor- chant ships and in citizens of its own wild which l.o man them. A I, any moment, vve are threat ened with the disruption of our for- n trade, now the largest in the world, because we do not. possess hipS of our own for if 1 1 ;m porfa- tion. li, is possible for our- foreign rivals, for reasons that they eon Id make i eem extremely plausible, to withdraw their merchant ships from our trade, and compel our foreign Customers to turn to them for the imports they must, have. Our < I ;i f r ■•<• r i: ;ieul,o. II in no l.ime lo haggle over details. The United States must have ;i merchant marine of its own fully equal to all of the needs of its foreign carrying, just ;i rapidly as American capital, using American shipyards, American officers and eamen, can furnish (hem. The more profitable such hips are to their American build- pi , owners, officers and crcwr., the more rapidly they will increase, and i he ooner the nation will be secure. — Feb. 17, L910. CONGESTION Pari of the congestion at our seaports, and by contagion through our whole railroad system, is due to the lack of ships. We cannot de- liver what we have sold. Trains : THE GHAVEST 366 DAYS block the terminal yards at the ports, and the side tracks from Chi- cago to the seaboard. Lighterage sheds and lighters in Now York harbor are held fall. No more oars can be unloaded, so the equipment must be kept under load in the Jei> Bey yards while fanners in Nebraska ami millers in Minneapolis cannot uvi ears in which bo ship their gram and flour. We own only half the equipment necessary to carry on our foreign trade. That trade does not move from Chicago to New York, bat from Chicago to Liverpool. Buenos Ayres, Naples. We own our rolling stock : bat we have depended upon the floating stork o( others, now withdrawn and pat to their own spe- cial uses. Therefore our trade piles up on the wharves. The wharves should be a mere transfer platform between carriers. They have become an impasse. Tart o( the ships on which we re- lied swing slowly at their anchors in a hundred roadsteads, their Ger- man news idde on shore. Tart o{ the earners that once served us strew the floor of the English Chan- nel. Pan are coaling the huge al- lied squadrons in the Mediterranean. Tan are earning supplies to Sa- lonica or troops from Bombay. More and more we are being restricted to jast those ships which England can spare, away from her own military and naval needs. What a spectacle for us to re- gard! What should we say of a private industry that neglected to prepare itself against an absolutely certain contingency? Our Congress, by shutting us eves to the facts and refusing to agree on the details of a plan to restore our merchant ma- rine, has left our foreign commerce unprepared against a contingency that was certain to befall it. name- ly, a great war in which foreign na- tions found their ships Locked up. or called them home. We may before Long find that, oar dream of eoinpiering foreign markets during this war has van- ished. We may have to stop soil- ing- to extra-European buyers he- caase we shall have no ships with which to deliver to them. To-day eoal is $40 per ton in Italy and less than $5 on board at Norfolk. But we cannot sell it. There are no slops to carry it. Perhaps this war. if it lasts long- enough, will teach us that the equip- ment for foreign trade consists of >. arriers thai w ill take that trade all the wax. not half the way. We shall learn that a neutral nation cannot depend upon ships subject to the military rail o\' nations that choose to go to war. When that lesson is learned, we shall have an American merchant marine. — March 9, 1916. TRADE FOLLOWS THE FLAG We all recall that daring the last months o( L915 Great Britain swept from the >eas mosl o[' the vessels of the American Transatlantic Com- pany, owned entirely by American ■11-. The British excase Was that some o( these vessels, at some period in the pasl were under the German registry. Over 50,000 tons of shipping, most o[' which (he American Trans- atlantie had transferred from the Danish to the American Hag. were thus frightened oil' the ocean or seized by British eruisers and nom- inally sent to the prize court to have their "innocence" passed apon. MERCHANT MAN 463 None of these American ships ha- come up before the court. It will be many a long day before tl Ho. Britain hai requistioned them. The 0'-/" Hocking, not suit- able to carry our goods, ore engaged in ■ g for England. The elimination of these -hips from our u < i the influence of the Panama canal act and the seamen's law, was driven off the ocean and most of the Eobert Dollar Line steamers were trans- ferred from American to British flag, the Japanese steamers have dominated the Pacific trade. We ship by them to Japan and China, or not at all. The Japanese government in granting its subsidy retains control over the ocean rates of the aided line. It uses that control for its own national advantage. For ex- ample, rates on grain are kept low, rates on flour high. Japan has to buy breadstuffs from us, but so ar- ranges the ocean rates that it buys grain which is ground into flour in • la pan and not in America. Simi- larly, the American miller cannot gel a flour rate to Manchuria to compete with the grain rate to Japan plus the low flour rate from the Japanese mills to destination. Japan knows how to create and Use a merchant marine. She has na- tional purposes and takes the means to realize them. Will our friends still go on telling us that there is no use in having an American merchant marine and that we should let oth- er- do our carrying for us? — May 5, 1916. THE DESERTERS In the Panama canal act of 1912 we forbade railroads from running ships, through the Panama canal. That prevented the Southern Pacific, the Santa Fe, the Hill roads and the New Haven from putting lines through the canal in competition with each other. The interstate commerce act makes both rail-and- water and all-water rates of a rail- road-owned boat line subject to the Interstate Commerce Commission. So we should to-day be getting from such lines, voluntarily or under compulsion, the low rates justified by the full boat loads which the railroad owner would be pouring through the Pacific ports. But no; Congress would not have it. Congress thought these "taint- ed" boat lines would in some mys- terious way throttle the canal. Con- gress had its way. It barred rail- road-owned boats and left the water open to free competition between independent carriers. But — as all traffic men predicted — there was no competition. Rates from coast to coast by water were a slight differ- ential under the all-rail rates, just enough to attract business. Two lines, the American Hawaiian and the W. E. Grace & Co., dominated the traffic and charged identical rates. Their representatives attend- ed railroad meetings and they fol- lowed the railroad rates up or down. Last fall the Panama canal was closed by slides. It has reopened, but the American Hawaiian and W. Pi. Grace are not putting their boats back on the coast-to-coast route. They can make more money chartering the vessels elsewhere. The rail rates across the continent fix a maximum water rate which 16S THE GRAVEST 366 PAYS can be charged, an amount lower than the current ocean rates to- day. The rail rate on canned salm- on from the Pacific coast to New York is $14 per ton. To-day you can earn $10 per ton carrying flour to Naples. The railroads bring asphalt across the continent for $10 per ton. You can earn $30 per ton taking coal to Genoa. These independent boats are as free as the ocean air. They have no obligations to serve America, so their owners charter them out to their own advantage. The railroad- owned boats would to-day be operat- ing between Atlantic and Pacific coasts, rendering service and charg- ing rates regulated by the Interstate Commerce Commission. Some day we are going to learn to trust and use for our own national purposes these great transportation agencies of ours, instead of fight- ing them. Water carriage to-day, in purely American traffic, is a matter for co-operation, not competition, between boats and railroads. — May 6, 1916. THE LESSONS OF WAR Step by step the American people are learning the elementary lessons of foreign trade. This war is doing a great deal to teach them. First and foremost we are learning what it means not to have a merchant marine. We are learning how false were those who assured us that we could entrust to foreign shipping the carrying of our exports. Now that one single class of foreign shipping, the British, has us in its power, it is exercising that power to levy dis- criminating rates upon American ex- ports to South America. It used to be considered an axiom of the ocean rate structure that the rates to South American ports should be the same from New York, Ham- burg and Liverpool, so that the manufacturers of all three countries would be upon a parity. This parity of ocean rates was repeatedly in- sisted upon by the American man- agers of British steamship lines dur- ing a House committee's investiga- tion of the Shipping Trust in 1913. For example, Mr. Daniels, the New York manager of Lamport & Holt, speaking of the rates to Bra- zil, said : There are similar tariffs to that pub- lished from England, published from Germany, and our tariff is made up on the same cost equivalent, whether it is in pounds and shillings or whether it is in marks and pfennigs, brought to dol- lars and cents, so that a man shipping any manufactured goods where an Eng- lish or a German merchant is shipping the name class of goods, the American merchant has the same rate as the Eng- lish merchant, has the same rate as the Herman merchant, for the transporta- tion, and it is up to them to see who can produce it the cheapest. As far as transportation goes, we give them the same rates for the same service. Nay, the New York manager of this British steamship line waxed indignant when one of the congress- men again questioned him on the subject : Yes. sir; and I do not want you — I tell you right now, the American rates are on the same parity with the English rates. Methinks the lady doth protest too much. When Mr. Daniels gave that tes- timony his line had a competitor operating to Brazil from New York — the joint service of the Hamburg- American line and the Hamburg- South American line. After the war broke out tins competitive German MERCHANT MARINE 469 service was removed and English ship owners were alone in the field. They then proceeded to jack up the rates from New York to Brazil to a point far ahove the corresponding rate from Liverpool, with the pur- pose of preventing the United States from taking advantage of the war conditions and getting a firm foot- hold in the South American field. As the British government has di- rect charge of the rates and services of British ships in war time its hand can be clearly seen in the proceeding. This whole process is very clearly described in a report of the Ameri- can members of the high commis- sion that recently visited South America to study financial and com- mercial conditions. The members were Mr. McAdoo, Senator Fletcher, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury A. J. Peters, Archibald Kains, Paul Warburg, of the Federal Reserve Board, Samuel Untermyer and John H. Fahey, president of the United States Chamber of Commerce. They say: We are advised that bottoms are avail- able in very much larger proportions from Great Britain than from other countries, and British merchants are en- joying rates 50 to 75 per cent, less than American manufacturers. A number of notable cases were brought to the atten- tion of the members of the commission where important contracts have recently gone to Europe which would have been given to the United States except for the wide difference in freight rates which made it impossible for our manufac- turers to compete. It was also pointed out by the repre- sentatives of American shippers in these countries that very much higher rates to the United States, as against Europe, seriously militate against our manufac- turers in the purchase of raw materials, which become available to European manufacturers at lower cost because of the cheaper transportation. We shall now be interested to hear again that ancient fable that the British control of the seas has been used to protect America. It would be nearer the truth to say that America in this case was pro- tected only so long as Germany shared with England that control. But the whole truth is that America will never know real and reliable protection for its oversea interests until it obtains a share in the con- trol of the seas and a share in the carrying trade of the world propor- tional to its vast interest in the world's trade. — May 15, 19 1G. BOSTON RUM Last night a dispatch from Bos- ton told of the chartering of a schooner to carry a cargo of rum to the west coast of Africa, the charter rate for the voyage being $80,000, somewhat more than the vessel cost to build. The incident recalls the good old days when Bos- ton made its first big money trading in rum and "niggers." The hardy Boston traders brought sugar from Jamaica to Boston. They made this sugar into rum, and carried the rum to the west coast of Africa. They exchanged the rum for droves of slaves, brought to the coast from the interior. They put the slaves below and carried them to Jamaica, to be traded for more sugar, to be made into more rum, to be exchanged for more slaves. Many an early Boston fortune was made out of the profits of this tri- angular trade, money which, when the slave trade was no more, went into the New Bedford whaling in- dustry, and, when petroleum re- placed whale oil, found its way into 470 THE GBAVEST 3G6 DAYS the copper mines and railroads of the West. The slave trade is long since dead, but the Wes1 African taste for Bos- ton ruin remains. II is perhaps the only reminder that Boston retains of the vanished glories of the days of her maritime supremacy. — .1/'/// 16; 1916. EXTENDING THE RAILROAD In the last issue of the Outlook, P. H. \V. Ross, president of the Na- tional Marine League, asks: Is there any reason why part of the capital for our merchant marine should not be supplied by the railways that would feed that merchant marine with treighl '. ; No, there is no reason in the world. Our railroads in earlier days played a large part in building over-sea lines for this country. The Pennsylvania participated in estab- lishing the American Line to Liver- pool. The present Johnston Line from Baltimore to Liverpool was originally owned by the Baltimore and Ohio. The Southern Pacific's Pacific Mail Steamship Company, along with the steamers Dakota and Minnesota of the Greai Northern Railway, built up our trade with the Far East. The Canadian Pacific now maintains fleets on both Atlan- tic and Pacific oceans, as well as a complete line of hotels and pleasure resorts across the continent. An Englishman hooks from Liverpool to Hong Kong and every cent of his money goes to the Canadian Pacific. Of recent years this government has done little to encourage rail- roads to extend their transporta- tion services on the water. The Pacific Mail asked for permission to build four 37,000-ton American liners to run from New York to the orient through the Panama Canal, calling at San Francisco. These boats, in addition to the large steamers which the Pacific Mail al- ready had, would have given us an unexampled fortnightly service to the Par Last. Congress refused to let the boats carry freight, from New York to San Francisco, which alone would have made the service profitable. This permission was re- fused because the Pacific Mail was owned by the Southern Pacific Rail- road. Some of the old salts who represented middle western states in Congress said that the whole scheme was a Southern Pacific plot to stifle competition through the Panama Canal. Not content with this, Congress passed a seamen's act whose effect was to prescribe for the Pacific Mail American crews, forbidding them to further employ Chinese crews, which alone made it possible to compete with the subsidized Japanese lines. Put Congress provided no subsidy to make it financially possible to em- ploy the higher-paid American la- bor. So the Pacific Mail ships were taken oil' f lie trans-Pacific trade. Nor has the end come. Follow- ing an act of Congress, the Inter- state Commerce Commission is now deciding whether the Central Ver- mont Railroad shall be allowed to retain its boat line from New Lon- don to New York, and whether the Southern Pacific may still own the boats which it has run from New York to Galveston and New Orleans, though these services are purely ex- tensions of the railroads owning them. Mr. Poss is perfectly right. Pail- road and steamship services are ME KC 1 1 ANT MARINE 471 naturally complementary. Other countries realize this. Canada en- courages and subsidizes the water lines of the Canadian Pacific; on both oceans. The Onited States legis- lates to discourage and penalize the 1 same development here. — May 24, 1916. THE INTERNATIONAL MER- CANTILE MARINE COM- PANY A game is being played whose stakes are possession of Hi*' great fleet of Die International Mercantile Marine Company, J. P. Morgan's steamship merger. One of the play- ers is represented by the American interests who control the common stock of the company, now under- going reorganization. The other party to the game is the British government, which had with Mr. Morgan a secret agreement assuring the admiralty absolute control of the vessels which Morgan seemed to own. The present question is whether the admiralty will be able to retain that control in the reorganized company or whether it shall become really an American concern. In 1901 shipping over the entire world was in financial straits. Dur- ing the Boer war the British ad- miralty had withdrawn a great ton- nage of merchant ships from com- mercial work for admiralty service, to aid in carrying on the South Af- rican operations. So during that war there were high freight rates, which induced an abnormal amount of shipbuilding. These new ships, in addition to the admiralty ton- nage released at the end of the war, created such a plethora of shipping in 1901 that rates reached very low levels. So in 1901 Mr. Morgan, who had been prime mover in this country in the consolidations and agreements that had eliminated rate cutting among railroads and price cutting among producers- — Mr. Morgan de- cided to form a similar consolida- tion among North Atlantic steam- ship lines and attain a similar elim- ination of ruinous competition. He bought up the leading lines from here to England, excepl the ( !nnard, and formed of them the Interna- tonal Mercantile Marine Company, with over 1,000,000 tons of ships. Be owned the Red Star line to Ant- werp, lie made a rate agreement and a division of territory with the < terman lines, and joint l\ with them acquired 51 per cent, of the stock of the I lollaiid-Anierican line. The circle of common ownership or in- terest included the North Atlantic lines of 1901, with the exception of the French line, which was unim- portant, and the Cunard line, which turned out to be a very important omission. Mr. Morgan had hopes to get the Cunard. line into his combination. Shipping men all know why the Cunard stayed out. It was because the British government gave to the Cunard the Mauretania and the Lus- itania as a reward for remaining in- dependent of the American combine. The British government, loaned the Cunard the money for these boats at 2$ per cent, interest and a small amortization quota. It then turned about and gave the Cunard a sub- vention which was exactly equal to the annual interest and amortization. The independence of the Cunard has been a thorn in the side of the I. M. M. C. in its attempt to main- tain rates, especially passenger rate-'. But the British government did 472 THE GBAVEST 366 DAYS more than this to thwart Mr. Mor- gan's plans. As a condition to per- mission for British lines to enter the combine, the admiralty made Mr. Morgan agree not to American- ize those lines. No existing British vessel could be transferred to the American flag and half of all ves- sels to be built must fly the British flag. Above all else, the admiralty retained power to terminate the agreement and break the combine, if it pursued a policy hostile to the British, merchant marine; for ex- ample, if it made any attempt at Americanization. The I. M. M. C. failed and is be- ing reorganized. After acquiring large interests in the fleets of the United Fruit and Pacific Mail com- panies, the American International Corporation, the foreign arm of the National City Bank and its asso- ciates, set out to pick up the com- mon stock of the I. M. M. C. They have a good percentage of it. And now appears Mr. Harold Sanderson from London bearing with him the British government's demand that the ships of this company shall re- main British and that it shall not be used with an eye single to develop the foreign trade of the United States. We shall see an interesting con- flict. The American International Corporation is for America first, last and all the time. At present it is the hope of the American mer- chant marine. Has this corporation bought a control merely in the name and not in the substance of the In- ternational Mercantile Marine ? Will it be satisfied with the name and not the substance? On the other hand, we may be sure that Great Britain will fight hard to retain her absolute hold on the ships of the I. M. M. C. Our first coup in the struggle for' an American merchant marine was thwarted when the State department refused to back up Breitung's pur- chase of the Hamburg-American liner Dacia. If we had supported that purchase, probably 200,000 tons of German deep-sea ships would have followed the Dacia to our flag. The second coup is this of the American International Corporation, and the decision is still pending. — May 25, 1916. THE AMERICAN LINE'S RUIN To the Editor of The Evening Mail: Sir — Your editorial, "The Inter- national Mercantile Marine Com- pany," showing the British attitude when this company was formed, brings to mind a phase of the situa- tion with which the writer is fa- miliar. In this phase we see that no one was much concerned with the safeguarding of our future on the Atlantic, Mr. Morgan apparently least of all. In 1898 the writer returned from a deep water sailing ship voyage and was appointed cadet, and shortly ad- vanced to the billet of quartermaster on the U. S. M. S. St. Louis, of the American line. This was before the days of wireless and was at the time when the American liners had been returned to the transatlantic service after service as auxiliary cruisers in the navy. The ships were then first class in every respect. They were among the speediest on the ocean run, and were largely manned by Americans. The officers were all Americans. My service in the St. Louis cov- MERCHANT MARINE 473 ered a period of a year and a half, and during that time I came into contact with the hest type of the American merchant marine officer. We had such men as Randall, Jamie- son, Mills and Passow in command, and Beckwith, Seagraves, Rogers, Power, Porter, W. A. F. Smith and Talhot Rogers as executives and bridge officers. Those of the port of New York who know these names and who know our merchant marine will re- member the high order of service that then prevailed in the American line. We were proud of the ships and we were proud of the men who manned them, and it seemed that the Stars and Stripes had again come back to the ocean lanes for good. The passenger lists of those days were a record of the best and most discriminating travelers across the western ocean. In 1901 the inclusion of these fine ships in the great International Mer- cantile Marine Company was the funeral toll of the Stars and Stripes in the front rank of trans-Atlantic travel. The ships were systematically neg- lected. With the death of Captain Shackford, the marine superintend- ent, the backbone of the high-class personnel was gone, and one by one the officers of that day left the American line to seek service in more promising fields. The ships were allowed to run down, while the British ships of the great combina- tion were kept up. New ships were constantly being put down and added to the foreign part of the great steamship combi- nation, but no new American ships were built. Finally the American Line dropped into the third class and no first cabin passengers were carried. It was then — before the great war — a dilapidated, worn-out example of steamship mismanage- ment. Those of us who knew the line in its prime cannot help but feel that the condition of the American Line is due entirely to foreign influences detrimental to the best interests of our flag upon the seas. Felix Riesenberg. New York, May 25. THE JAPANESE MERCHANT MARINE The Korea and the Siberia, two large American ships of 18,000 tons each, have been sold to the Japanese. These two great passenger ships were the pride of the Pacific Mail Steamship Compan}^, the pioneer of our trade in the Far East.' When the Pacific Mail was driven off the ocean, partly by the operation of the Panama Canal act and partly by other conditions, these boats were sold to one of the subsidiaries of the International Mercantile Marine Company, an American corporation owning, under the British register, the bulk of high-class shipping ply- ing between here and England. The Korea and Siberia, however, re- mained under the American flag. Now the president of the Interna- tional Mercantile Marine announces that the Korea and the Siberia have gone to Japan. Something is wrong with this country. At the very time that com- merce and navy are crying for ships as merchant carriers and as naval auxiliaries, at the moment when ships are scarce and cannot be dupli- cated, at this moment the largest American shipping concern sells two 474: THE GRAVEST :><;<; HAYS great steamships away from our register to the flag of Nippon. It is vain to say that the seaman's law, designed to force the use of Americans in the creWj is responsi- ble for this sale. When the war is over and freight rates sink it may become unprofitable to operate American ships under that law. ami it may have to be modified. But with the rates of to-day you could operate profitably and pay a crew of hank presidents. If a war comes upon us we shall find ourselves hereby deprived of the means of transporting ,*>,000 men. As the number of men that can be used away from our own shores is limited by the transport facilities, that sale means that our effective force is permanently diminished by 5,000 men. Should we ever have to meet Japan in the Philippines or Hawaii that sale would mean the loss to us of 10,000 men. 5,000 taken from us and 5,000 added to them. Two large steamers can no Longer be counted on to carry freight for us in these days when our merchants are refusing orders because there are no bottoms to carry their goods. These are the days when a mer- chant marine is so priceless that all European nations have forbidden the transferring of -hips away from the home Sag. 1 f the Siberia and Korea were sold out of America without the knowledge of our gov- ernment it indicates a terrible lack of co-ordination between govern- ment and shipping interests. If the government knew of this transfer and approved of it. it would he noth- ing less -than a betrayal of the na- tion. What is San Francisco, what is the Pacific coast, saying? The Ko- rea and the Siberia go to Japan. — June 1. 1916. WHAT ARE OUR SHIPYARDS BUILDING? We are hearing a great deal about tlu 1 marvelous activity of our ship- yards. Enthusiasts tell us that there is no need of government aid for a merchant marine because we are al- ready building so many ships that we are on the point of becoming per- haps the dominant factor in the world's carrying trade. The facts and figures are now before us. Ex- amined, not from the viewpoint of Fourth of duly orations hut from the viewpoint o\' cold truth, they show that we are not building up a merchant, marine at all. Our ship- yards are full of oil tankers, coast- wise steamers, car floats and ferry \e>sels. What is a merchant marine? It is a large tonnage of long-distance ocean carriers which, in time of peace, will assure our merchants rates and ser\ ices to oversea mar- kets equal to what our competitors enjoy. Jn time of war such a mer- chant marine assures the navy trans- port service for coal, provisions, munitions troops. No cargo or pas- senger \essel of less than 5,000 gross tons is suitable for oversea commer- cial or naval use. A smaller \ essel has not the steaming radius for long voyages and. if it had, it could not compete against the larger, more economical carriers. Now let us see how main cargo or passenger vessels of over 5,000 gross tons are building in our shipyards. The commissioner of navigation has just published the figures. On May 1 there were 1,129,014 gross MKKCIIAXT MARINE 475 tons of ships building in the coun- try, it is an unprecedented situa- tion. Yards are booked full until tin. end of L917. The class of ton- nage now building is indicative of what will be laid down in the com- ing i! ion i lis. Of these 1,129,014 tons, 174,000 are building for the great lakes or other inland waters and are not available for foreign trade. Four hundred and fifty-nine thousand tuns are oil tankers, mostly Stand- ard Oil boats, and are not common carriers at all. There are 510,000 0ms of cargo vessels or eargo-and- passenger vressels, but most of these are -mallei' craft for the coa-twi-c or Wesl Indies trade. There are only twenty-five .-hips, with a total gross tonnage of L62,000, which arc over 5,0<)D tuns each and so capable of overseas use. Of this total, 94,000 ton- are building on the Pacific coast, only 68,000 tons on the Allan- tire. Of this small tonnage there is only one singb; ship with a. speed of over 12 knots, which is the speed of a tramp steamer. That single excep- tion is a steamer building at the l'n ion Iron Works in San Francisco for the Matson Navigation Com- pany. It has 10 knots .-peed and a tonnage of 9,728, being the largest vessel in the total of 102,001) Ion-. We are building twelve steamers of 1o.ni to tons or over, but every one is on oil tanker. The largest owners of the new ships are Luekeribach, building 32,000 tons, and W. B. Grace & Co., building 24,200 tons. Last week we sold away from our 11 ag to Japan the Korea and Siberia, together 36,000 tons, more than the tonnage building for either of these firms. It is very well to be proud of our shipyards' activity and profits, of the labor they employ, the materials : use, their potent ia] capacity to serve as. But it is false to say that i hey are building a merchant mar- ine. They an; doing nothing of the sort. — June 3, 19 1 r >. BRITAIN OUR BEST CAR- RIER, SAYS THEODORE H. PRICE In discussing the business to he derived from the war, Theodore H. Price said that the expediency of de- veloping a large merchant fleet un- der the American flag depend- en- tirely upon our naval policy. Iii his opinion the war has proved conclu- sively thai a merchant marine with- out a navy to protect it is utterly useless. The survival of England's merchant fleet, he pointed out, is en- tirely dependent upon the ability of her uavy to protect it. Germany has one of the finesl deep-sea merchant fleets in the world, but it is utterly useless to-day because of England's superior sea power. 'The United States." Mr. Price went on, "has a coast line of about 10,000 miles to protect, to say noth- ing of our oversea possessions. In time of war this would occupy the energies of a very much larger navy than we now possess; hut unless we could patrol the foreign -ens as well, the commerce under our flag would be subject to attack by any nation with whom we happened to be at war. "To create a navy sufficiently large to protect an American mercantile marine againsl sea raiders through- out the world would involve an ex- penditure that would probably be largely in excess of any profit that 476 THE (! RAY EST 3(5C, PAYS we might derive from the possession of such a. merchant fleet." Mr. Price said that it seemed to him largely a question o( dollars and cenls as to whether it was desirable for Q6 to undertake the creation of a greal merchant marine. A hugeriavy would he an Inevitable corollary, and our pasl experience indicates that the cost of such a navy would he enormous. He admitted that it would gratify American pride to see our flag n |>on the so\ en soas. hut he doubted whether it would he of real advan- tage to us from either an economic or a patriotic standpoint. "1 believe," he added, "in an America tor the Americans, bul our prosperity and development would lie host Bubserved by getting our freight carried as cheaply as possi- ble. The English have sho\* n them- selves specialists in marine trans- portation. They are already pro- \ ided with the fleet thai is necessary for the protection oi' their vessels. I am rather inclined to believe thai it would he wisest to lot them carry our freight as long as they could do it more cheaply than any one else." — June 21, L916. FOREIGN CARRIERS Mosi Americans will not agree with Mr. Theodore Trice in his statement that wo can rely upon other nations to do our overseas carrying for us because, under nor- mal conditions, the] .an do it cheaper. A power plant is built to carry the "peak load." A sound na- tional policy provides national equipment not only for every-day life hut for emergencies. War is an emergeucv that has not grown less frequent in the last twenty years. If we have our ocean transportation done by others, war dislocates our ocean transportation — not war in which we are involved, hut war in which our tarrying friends are involved, war which we by the most exemplary behavior can- not prevent. When ibis conflict broke out 90 per cent, of our foreign trade was moved in foreign ships, mostly Brit- ish and German. The Herman ships were chased oil' the sea. Half the British merchant marine was char- tered by the admiralty. Such ship- as serve us in any trade hut that be tween here and England do so only under special license from (he ad- miralty, daily revocable. Cancella- tion o( these licenses would kill our foreign trade at a blow. We have our commercial head in the Brit ish lion's mouth and have little enthu- Biasm about pulling his tail. The assistant secretary o\' nun merce tells us that the British, hav- ing eliminated German ships from participating in the \ew fork- South American trade, now charge .'in- merchants 100 per cent, higher freight rates that their own mer- chants. No use blaming the British. They want to keep hold o( that South American trade and they add freight rates to handicap the Amer- ican competitor. It is a logical thing to do. To-day the limits of our export trade are set by lack of tonnage. The limits on the profits we make on what can he carried are set by the enormous freight rates charged by the reduced ship tonnage avail- able for mercantile use. The point o( the whole matter is that we want our fate in our own hands. A national transportation MERCHANT MARINE 477 system for our producers is one that runs to their overseas markets, not merely to the seaboard. — June 21, 1916. AMERICAN SHIPOWNER CALLS BRITISH POL- ICY "PIRACY" Transatlantic Company's Presi- dent Tells Story of Seizures and Failure of U. S. to Act To Ilic Editor of The Evening Mail: Sir. — Apropos of your article m (lie J'Jrrning Mail of -July 11 headed "Tin' Collapse of Sea Law and the End of the Declaration of London," it may be interesting for the Amer- ican people to know of a specific case in relation to which the British government ignored the Declaration of London by seizing steamships owned by American citizens and (lying the American flag and also the attitude of the administration in Washington relative thereto. This case relates to the steam- ships owned by the American Trans atlantic Company, an American corporal ion, the capital stock of which is now and always was owned by American citizens. This com- pany purchased eleven ocean-going steamers all from neutral countries, neutral flags and neutral owners, during April, May ami June of L915, and owns the ships free and dear of any encumbrance or any foreign alliance. The company applied in May, 1915, to the Commissioner of Navi- gation, Mr. E. T. Chamberlain, at Washington, for American registry under the act of August 18, 1914. After Mr. Chamberlain had con- sidered the mallei for about a month he refused registry and an appeal to Secretary Red field, his superior, was without avail. Secretary Red field's denial of American registry was based on "confidential diploma! ic informa- tion," which, he -fated at the time, could not be disclosed. Finally, on appeal to Secretary Lansing, of the state department, il was held that the ships were entitled to Ameri- can registry and the commerce de- partment was so informed. Ameri- can registry was then finally granted about three months after the first application was made. Loss of $1,000,000 While Waiting The withholding of registration for such a long time meant that the ships were idle during this time and suffered the loss of earnings ap- proximating $1,000,000. No valid reason was ever given by the officials of the commerce department for their action. Copies of the so-called "confidential diplomatic informa- tion" were afterwards obtained from the files of the commerce depart- ment, and it was found that it con- sists of letters from the American consuls at London, Copenhagen and Rotterdam, all based only on rumor and newspaper reports that German citizens hud an interest in the own- ership of the vessels. The files also contained a letter from a prominent local steamship man, a competitor of this company, misrepresenting the status of our ships and evidently written for the purpose of preventing competition. Worst of all, after American reg- istry was issued to our ships, we re- ceived a letter from the commerce department stating that registry was 478 THE GRAVEST- 366 DAYS only granted under the technicali- ties of the law, but that our ships were subject to seizure by foreign governments and prize court adjudi- cation, and the officials of the com- merce department took special pains to publish this gratuitous opinion to the public press, so that it was a direct invitation by the officials of the commerce department to foreign governments to seize these ships. Blacklisted by Britain Great Britain, in August, 1914, ratified the provision of the Declar- ation of London, Article 57, which provided that the character of a ship shall be determined by the flag it rightfully flies and not by the na- tionality of its owners. All of the ships of this company were pur- chased after this date, and before October 20, 1915, when Great Brit- ain, by another order in council, abrogated this provision of the Declaration of London. Soon thereafter the eleven ships of this compny were placed on the British blacklist and three of the ships seized, the first one, the Hock- ing, on October 28, while going in ballast from New York to Norfolk, Va., under charter to load coal for Buenos Ayres. The next one, the Genesee, while off the coast of Brazil with a cargo of coal under charter to C. G. Blake & Co., of New York, and the third one, the steamship Kankakee, off the mouth of the river Plate, while under charter with a cargo of coal to W. R. Grace & Co., of New York. It should be noted that the only charge Great Britain makes against these ships is a probable German in- terest in the ownership. As stated above, there is no such interest in these ships, and there never was. The suspicion of such an interest was aroused by the acts of the offi- cials of the commerce department, and the writer believes that some of these officials, by direct communi- cation with representatives of the British government, invited the seizure of the ships. It should also be noted that under the Declaration of London, adopted by Great Britain and in force at the time these ships were purchased, ships were not subject to seizure or molestation because citizens of bel- ligerent countries were interested in the ownership. Called an Act of Piracy The seizure was therefore nothing more or less than an act of piracy, backed by the might of the British navy. This high-handed procedure of the British government was further emphasized by the fact that immediately after the seizure the ships were confiscated and placed under British government service and have been held there ever since without any compensation to this company. After many appeals and much de- lay a protest was finally sent to Great Britain by the state depart- ment stating that the seizure of these ships was illegal and that they ought to be set free. The grounds given for this request were that the ships were not of belligerent nationality at the time of their acquisition by the American Transatlantic Com- pany and that the position of the department was corroborated by Article 57 of the Declaration of London, which was then in force as the applicable British law. The British foreign office replied that the ships were now before the British prize court and therefore the MERCHANT MARINE 479 question of release could not be taken up diplomatically. That is as far as our government interfered in the matter, and no further action has been taken. In view of the present adminis- tration's declared programme for a greater American merchant marine, it is difficult to understand its action in the case of the American Trans- atlantic Company. Here 62,000 tons of ocean-going cargo steamers were added in good faith by private capital to the Amer- ican merchant marine. By direct charges of the high officials of the present administration, which have proved to he unwarranted, the ships were seized by foreign governments and are still held, and because of the indifference of the "Washington offi- cials their services are lost to the commerce of the United States. R. Gk WAGNER, President American Transatlantic Co., New York, July 13, 1916. WAR RISK INSURANCE In the days when Dr. Norvin Green bossed the Western Union Telegraph some clever person sug- gested that the company might evade responsibility for error, delay and any or every other possible act of omission or commission by print- ing on the back of the sending blank a contract by which the sender of a message became bound merely by paying money to the company and writing on the paper. That contract was a delight and a joy to the Western Union until some testy individual took the matter into court. Then the jurists declared it a manifest fraud, and not worth the paper it was printed on. Something of the same finding may be expected if the "war risk in- surance" policy which the British marine companies are selling .to American shippers is subjected to the scrutiny of the courts. Some art- ful gentlemen have inserted joker or jokers until the companies are liable for nothing except by vessel striking a mine. For this perverted policy a rate of from 1 to 5 per cent, of the value of a cargo is charged. The person who buys war risk in- surance does not get it. What he gets is deception, fraud. ■ This comes, too, in a time of the greatest prosperity the marine in- surance companies ever have known. Such of this insurance as is writ- ten in New York comes under the laws of the state of New York, be- ing a contract entered into and on which the premium is paid in New York. It is therefore possible for the legislature of New York to com- pel these companies to issue joker- less policies so far as New Yorkers are concerned. And if, as is reported, the United States government, in its ignorance, has followed the British companies in this "war risk" swindle in the pol- icies it issues, it should take steps at once to return to the old and honest form.— July 27, 1916. COMMON CARRIERS BY WATER The central concept of the com- mon carrier concerns its obligation to carry for all alike without dis- crimination in rates or service. Indeed within this country we have our Interstate Commerce act which prescribes upon railroads such non- 480 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS discriminatory treatment of ship- pers. The extension of this principle to ocean transportation will help solve our difficulty in regard to trading with neutral countries of Europe. The main hindrance to such trading is the refusal of Dutch or Scandi- navian steamship lines to accept any shipment not vised by British authorities in this country. Experi- ence has shown the steamship lines that to accept at American ports shipments not passed by the British consul means long detention in an English port, with consequent loss of steamship earnings. By three measures this system can be abolished. First, we can close our ports to any ocean carrier discriminating against any Ameri- can shipper, unless he offers con- traband destined to Germany. Second, we can enforce upon England the canon of international law which Secretary Lansing re- called to her in his note of Oct. 21, 1915; the principle that British cruisers have no right to drag into a British port any ship plying be- tween here and neutral countries, unless on board the ship are found' evidences that it carries contraband for Germany. Third, we can scale down the British contraband list, now includ- ing all the main articles of export, and restrict the list to those arti- cles previously recognized as con- traband in warfare. A list inter- nationally framed is contained in the Declaration of London. Of course this means action on our part; no longer mere words. It means actually asserting the rights which diplomatically we insist that we have. It means asserting these rights as we asserted our rights against German aggression. — July 29, 1916. GOVERNMENT SHIPS; TOO LATE The reports now are that the government's shipping bill will be brought up in Congress and prompt- ly passed. The proposal is for the government to build or buy ships and operate them itself unless suit- able parties will charter them and run them on the routes desired. There was a time for such a bill — in the fall of 1911. The time was missed, the opportunity lost. It is no time for such a bill now. In September, 1911, the southern states were prostrate. They had harvested a large cotton crop and it lay on their hands until the pro- ducer was selling for 6c. or 6^c. per pound on the farm. The cause for the depression was that the quota which usually moves to the central powers — over 3,000,000 bales — was not moving. German ships were off the seas. England, of course, would not carry for the central powers, and England fright- ened neutral ships from carrying by threats that cotton might be de- clared contraband, which would make cargo and ship seizable. We had no ocean carriers of our own. It was a time for action. The government proposed action. The ship purchase bill of 1914 was really framed to meet this condi- tion: to buy German ships interned in our ports, put cotton in them and ship it to the central powers. The bill, if promptly passed, would have relieved the cotton situation and would have meant millians of dollars to the American producer. MERCHANT MARINE 481 But the government did not tell the truth. It spoke of buying ships from every one but the Germans, or even of building them. Every one knew that only the German ships were available, and that to build ships would throw the relief so far into the future as to be no relief at all. The government talked of running ships everywhere but to Germany — it talked preferably of South America. At that time we all knew that there was a surfeit of empty tonnage running from here to South America. The Democrats had a good case. They did not dare to state it, and the bill was filibustered to death in Congress. If those government ships had been put into the service from here to Germany they would still be car- rying our cotton and foodstuffs and bringing back dyes and potash. Against these ships the mock "block- ade" would never have been de- clared. To-day the German ships are no longer for sale. Nor are the ships of any neutral nation. All have passed laws forbidding the sale of ships away from the home flag. All we can do with government money is to build ships. We need them; we need an American merchant ma- rine, and it is perfectly true that the vast tonnage of oil tankers, colliers, coastwise traders and ferryboats now building in our shipyards do not promise us an oversea merchant marine of common carriers. But there is now no especial emergency to be met. Cotton is now prosper- ous; the administration has aban- doned our. right to trade with the central powers. The need is the perennial need of a merchant ma- rine, a need demonstrated by this war as never before. And for the long future we want private-owned, not state-owned, ships. — Aug. 10, 1916. "FOSTERING" THE MER- CHANT MARINE The Democratic administration is about to pass a bill providing $50,- 000,000 of the nation's money to buy or build ships. Nobody knows where the ships are to be got, but the crying need for a merchant ma- rine these last two years demands some sort of political action with which to go before the voters in November. The Democratic party, being in its platform a confirmed opponent of direct subsidy to pri- vate ship lines, will now subsidize them indirectly in the form of low leases on government ships. This administration has a record in the matter of "fostering" our merchant marine which the voters will bear in mind. We have had during this war such an opportunity as will never again exist to revive our ancient shipping prestige. On three separate occasions the admin- istration allowed itself to be fright- ened by England away from seizing the opportunity. First — When the war broke out a whole fleet of German freighters were interned, useless, in our ports. They were for sale. A government ship purchase bill was framed to buy them. The bill did not state, nor would the administration offi- cials openly admit, that they pro- posed to buy the German steamers. They were all that there were for sale. When Great Britain saw what the Democrats' purpose was, and that they were afraid to admit it, vague threats of terrible conse- 482 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS quences came from London if we should buy the German steamers. The threats frightened the admin- istration leaders. They had not told the country the truth about the bill. They did not now tell the country the truth that the sea law under which the allies were oper- ating — the "modified" Declaration of London — specifically permitted the bona-fide purchase by a neutral of the merchant vessels of a bel- ligerent. England had got her maritime supremacy by purchasing our ves- sels when British-built Confederate privateers in 1861-2 chased them off the seas. England did not pro- pose that we should recover in 1914- 15. The British clamor, unop- posed, frightened enough senators to defeat the bill in February, 1915. Second — A private American tried to buy one of those interned Ger- man liners, E. N. Breitung. He bought the Dacia, a Hamburg- American liner, put an American crew aboard, loaded her with cot- ton at Galveston and sailed for Rot- terdam. The State department de- clared itself satisfied with his proof of the validity of the transfer of ownership. Yet the State depart- ment gave him no real support. A French cruiser seized the Dacia. towed her into Brest and handed her over to a prize court. That was the end of the attempt to buy German ships. Third — The administration then demonstrated that it would not sup- port an American who bought even neutral ships. R. C. Wagner put his own and other American capi- tal into 62,000 tons of neutral steamers (mostly Danish) form neutral owners, and transferred them to the American flag. There were eleven steamers in all. They were placed on a British blacklist, Great Britain choosing to assume that there was German capital in the American company. Three of these steamers were seized by Brit- ish cruisers, the others deterred from again sailing except under re- strictions to South America that made profit impossible. The three seized steamers, while not good enough to serve America, have been since carrying freight for the British admiralty. No finger has been raised by the State department on behalf of this 62,000 tons of ship- ping wiped off the ocean. The administration's American- ism in the matter of shipping is a negligible quantity. When the Democrats recount their achievements, let them tell of their failure to tell the truth and to stand up square and pass the ship pur- chase bill at the time when it would have done some good. Let them explain why they made no faint ef- fort to aid American citizens to purchase either German or neutral steamers. Let them explain this and then descant on the glories of the present bill, which promises government competition to what re- mains of a privately owned mer- chant marine to which this admin- istration refuses the slightest sup- port. The American people do not want four more years of this "fos- tering'' of their interests. — Aug. 18, 1916. THE SHIPPING BILL The Senate has passed the ship purchase bill, already passed by the House. The government is MERCHANT MAEINE 483 to contribute $50,000,000 to a cor- poration which will purchase or lease ships, built in America or abroad, to be run under the Ameri- can flag and relieve the present lack of tonnage. The ships are not to be operated by the government if private lessees can be found. It is necessary to keep in mind the situation which this Democratic measure is designed to meet. We have had few ships under the Amer- ican flag engaged in the foreign trade, except in the short trade to Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. The reason is that it has cost more to build ships in America than abroad, and it has cost more to operate them, because of the high wages of American of- ficers. We required ships flying our flag to be American built and Amer- ican officered. Yet we needed ocean-going mer- chant ships to explore and develop new markets for us, to train men fit for the naval service and to act as naval auxiliaries in war time. The Eepublicans in the last fifteen years have repeatedly brought in subsidy bills, providing that the government recompense American ship owners for the higher costs of operating American ships. It was the protection policy applied to shipping, an industry necessary for the life of all other industries as our foreign trade developed. The Demo- crats, aided by some western Eepub- licans, defeated every subsidy bill. In the meantime "pork barrel" ap- propriations for buildings in un- heard-of western burgs and for "im- proving" unnavigable rivers where no traffic existed went merrily on. The Democrats entered. In Aug- ust, 1914, they passed a bill ad- mitting all foreign-built ships to American registry and so to the right to fly our flag. That seemed to equalize Americans with foreign- ers in point of vessel cost. The law of August, 1914, empowered the President to suspend the require- ment that American ships carry American officers. Foreign ships brought in were allowed to retain their foreign officers. This was sup- posed to reduce to the foreign level the cost of operating these Ameri- can ships. It did not have that re- sult, for the foreign ship officers brought in demanded, and got, American wages. The Democratic shipping bill will some day provide 300,000 to 500,- 000 tons of shipping, one-tenth of our needs. Favorite persons will lease these ships on low terms and put them into competition with the now American lines which, 6ince the war, are operating to all continents. It is a scheme to discourage pri- vate enterprize. It was ably charac- terized by the London Spectator last February, when it was framed : From the point of view of the British shipping industry, we certainly hope that President Wilson will persist in this bill, which may be briefly described as a scheme for handicapping American com- mercial enterprise by state competition. We want our merchant marine a national industry. The ships should be built here, to develop our ship- yards. The ships should be offi- cered and at least partly manned by Americans. No other sort of merchant marine is of any use to the navy. The country is willing to make the sacrifice necessary to have a merchant marine of this sort. The government's $50,000,000 spent in judicious ship subsidies would give us not 500,000 but 5,000,000 tons of shipping. — Aug. 22, 1916. 484 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS AMERICAN SHIPBUILDING American shipbuilders say it either is a feast or a famine with them. That is what Carnegie said years ago about the steel industry. That is what is likely to be said about any industry that is managed loosely, inefficiently and in defiance of sound economic principles. They do not talk that way now about the steel industry because that business, thanks to the wisdom of Gary, Schwab, Topping and others, is be- coming stabilized. American shipbuilders are feast- ing now, gorging themselves, in an- ticipation of lean days and hard times that are to come they know not how soon. Meanwhile they are getting "all the traffic will bear" out of such craft as they construct. The prices they charge are not based on a fair measure of profit, but on the needs or the frenzied desire of the purchaser. For ex- ample, a shipowner who required vessels had plans drawn late in 1914 for more boats. One of the largest shipbuilding concerns quoted $1,- 600,000 for the craft and agreed to take part payment in bonds. The shipowner needed some financial as- sistance. By the time he arranged for it the shipbuilding concern jumped the price to $3,000,000 and withdrew the bond agreement. To- day the price would be nearly $4,- 000,000. The ships were not built. The shipyard is crowded with work at high rates. The shipbuilders con- sider it was good business on their part to escape that contract. Most business men may agree witb them in such a view. Therein is the es- sence of American business insta- bility. That is the sort of thing that causes wild, unreasonable ad- vances in prices and correspondingly unwarranted declines. It is axiomatic that no trade is a good trade that is not of benefit to both parties. Shipbuilders, how- ever, are garnering immense profit, charging prices never charged be- fore and never likely to be paid again, and are doing this with the expectation that, with the end of the war, the men who pay such ex- travagant prices will "be stuck." Any one who questions the wisdom of their course is considered a fool. Yet the truth is that the Ameri- can shipbuilders are the fools. They are fatuously proceeding on lines certain to result disastrously to them. A railroad that is overcapitalized is unable to do justice to its owners or the public. A house on the con- struction of which the owner spends $100,000 will be profitable to its proprietor, while a similar house on which in a period of business mad- ness a builder spends $200,000 or $300,000 probably will bankrupt its owner, be permitted to run down and become a real estate Jonah. A ship that costs far beyond its value cannot earn its keep when freights become normal. It is a feast or a famine in Amer- ican shipbuilding because the ship- builders make it so. They need nothing so much as common sense. They need a Henry Ford to teach them there is more of gain and more of safety in volume of busi- ness at modest profit than in exces- sive profit out of a spasmodic busi- ness. There was a time when the American shipbuilder possessed common sense. That was in the day of the square rigger. The men of Maine, by study and experience, MEKCHANT MAEINE 485 evolved a ship of great speed and high ability. It was the clipper. They clung to that style and car- ried the trade of America to every port of the seven seas. It was the best built, fastest and, all things considered, the cheapest vessel of its class in any merchant marine. It was a standardized product. The cargo boat of to-day is a plain ordinary box compared with the gracefully patterned clipper, yet the American shipbuilder is as far from standardization as Mars, is from the moon, and he scoffs at it as something ridiculous in connec- tion with shipping. Every branch of American shipbuilding is on a false basis. The industry cannot be sound until this is recognized and rectified. It is wrong in its finance, in its construction costs and in its administration. It is hopeless to expect stabilization or standardiza- tion from the heads of the ship- building companies of their own in- itiative. They are wedded to the idea that what the industry needs is protection; that the government by subsidies or tariff restrictions or some other method should aid them. No merchant marine of the world over was developed on such lines. The principle is wrong. It is de- structive of enterprise, initiative, ambition. A pampered industry is not an aggressive, vigorous one. What is given first as a favor comes to be considered by the recipient as a right. A pampered business is like a pampered son. "From shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves in three gen- erations" is the inexorable result of pampering. Ships should be built in America as cheaply, or nearly so, as any- where in the world. No country is more favored in the way of mate- rial. The cost of labor may be somewhat higher, but this has been over-emphasized. The heavier costs against us have been because we have not a reasonable system of financing shipbuilding and because we have ignored basic economies. In England the financing of ship- building is a business in itself as it should be. There are various companies and various firms that specialize in it. There is one great concern, the British Investment Trust, that stands to shipbuilders as our title guarantee companies do to real estate builders. The men or company desirous of building ships borrow from the trust company after the plans for the vessel or vessels have been examined or ap- proved. Against the mortgage bonds are issued. Why not have such financing here? Surely American house- builders would not be able to keep up with the demands for new struc- tures if they had no easy method of financing. The establishment of real estate banks has systematized and stabilized real estate finance. The establishment of shipbuilding banks would systematize and sta- bilize American ship finance. In England it is possible net only to insure ships but to insure profits on ships. An American merchant marine would require an American marine insurance somewhat after this fashion. Europe is far ahead of America in shipbuilding because Europe has recognized the virtues of stabiliza- tion and standardization. America is far ahead of Europe in automobile making because America in this industry has recog- nized the worth of stabilization and standardization. 486 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS We have 3>000,000 automobiles in America to-day. We would not have 500,000 if it were not for standardization. The automobile is a vehicle of fine construction, some of its parts being broughi down to the one-thousandth of an inch.. The cargo vessel is little more than a floating warehouse. In time of rising costs of labor and materia] we have the spectacle of the largest manufacturer of au- tomobiles cutting the price of his product nearly B0 per cent., while shipbuilders increase the price of their goods LOO or '200 per cent. To standardize American ship- building it is necessary first to as- certain the size and type of the ves- sel suitable for the broadest pos- sible use — a vessel that can reach The ports of South America and the Orient, that is economical in serv- ice, not too expensive to manufac- ture and which at the sane 1 time will meet the highest insurance standards. Haying established such a stand- ard vessel, it must be developed over and over again. Any plant in which tin 1 same part is made in Large quantities can introduce ma- chinery and eliminate hand labor. Regularity in shapes will bring lower cost of material and cheaper storage. Sales effort will be simpli- fied and repairs for the ships greatly cheapened. Henry Ford has carried this prin- ciple so far that the labor time in a Ford ear is insignificant. To Ford, a wage scale averaging be- tween five and six dollars per day is of little concern, because stand- ardization has reduced the total labor cost at that rate to less than thirty-five dollars. The same prin- ciple of one model will eliminate the one handicap to American ship- building — high labor costs. No industry is more stabilized and standardized than that of the motor. No industry is less stabilized and standardized than that of shipbuild- ing. Because the welfare of America depends so much on the develop- ment o\' an American merchant ma- rine; because without American ships there will be no broadening of America's foreign trade : be- cause without a larger foreign trade every American industry, from that o( the humblest farm to that of the greatest manufactory, will be affected, it is necessary that the shipbuilding business be made sound. We must have a bank to finance ships. J. F. Morgan, Frank A. Vander- bp. Jacob H. Schiff, Edward T. Stotesbury, George M. Reynolds and William 11. Crocker could estab- lish one on the British model within a month if they so desired. It should serve a great and patriotic purpose and would pay. Will they do it? We must have marine insurance companies of our own if we are to have a merchant marine. They should be operated honestly, not with the chicanery which the Brit- ish companies have practiced since the war began. The same gentlemen could cre- ate such companies and profit through them. Will they do it? We must have standardization. No one is better qualified to intro- duce this than Charles M. Schwab, who owns more shipyards than any other American. If he needs in- MERCHANT MARINE 487 struction, which is not likely, an appeal will he made to Henry Ford, Howard E. Coffin, William S. Dur- ant and others to give to him the benefit of their vast experience. Will Mr. Schwab {five an exam [tic to his fellow shipbuilders? It will pay more to the Bethlehem company in the long run than he appreciates. This matter of American ships is of immense importance. It con- cerns every man, woman and child in the republic. It warrants the best thought and the best effort of which we are capable. Morgan, Vanderlip, Schiff and men of that character can do no better service for the country than in this field to-day.— Aug. 28, 1916. MANY SHIPS, LITTLE CARGO New York harbor has seventeen ships open for charter at rates which a month ago would not have been considered. The cargo is slow to arrive, and marine men are beginning to wonder whether the blush is off the rose of sea traffic. The threat of a railroad strike and the partial embargo ordered by some of the great land lines may have halted freight somewhat, but not to the degree shown by the con- gregation of empty ships. The fact is that Great Britain has caught up with her needs in many lines of production, and is making smaller and smaller drafts on this country for goods. Crop movements, particularly the exports of cotton, wheat and per- haps a little corn, may keep ocean freights up for a few months, but we have seen the best of the war boom, and we had better accept this fact and fit ourselves to meet that condition. — Sept. 16, 1916. OUR SHIPPING ON THE PACIFIC The eastern part of the United Slates docs not realize in what des- perate plight our trans-Pacific trade has been the last nine months for lack of Amerii-an .-hips to carry it. A partial remedy is just being found. The seamen's act, put upon the country at the joint instigation of a Democratic Congress and Senator La Follette, of that great salt water state Wisconsin — the seamen's act forced our Pacific Mail Steamship Company to go out of business at the beginning of this year. The Pa- cific Mail had built up our Far East- ern trade. Through forty years it had kept the American flag flying on the Pacific. The seamen's act forced this company to employ white labor on their ships, while the competing Japanese could employ yellow. The result was not to send Calif ornian labor to sea — it does not want to go to sea, even if the Pacific Mail could afford to pay the shore wages of such labor. The re- sult of the seamen's act was to drive the Pacific Mail off the sea. It sold its ships and name. The largest of the Pacific Mail -hips were sold to Japan; others were bought by the Atlantic Trans- port Company and run from here to Europe. Only one of the •mailer ships, the China, was operated om-e in three months across the Pacific by a Chinese-American company. American trade depended for ac- commodation on Japanese or British boats, and these refused accommo- dation until their own nationals were cared for. They carriel noth- ing for the large number of Ameri- cans on the British blacklist nor 4SS THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS for German firms in China who, cut off from Germany, were eager to be- come the outposts of American trade. Warehouses in China and in our Pacific coast cities became stuffed with traffic for or from America, traffic which could get no trans- portation, either because British and Japanese ships refused to carry- it or because they were already full of business of their own. Finally, the desperate merchants prevailed upon the American International Corporation and W. R. Grace & Co., joint owners of the Pacific Mail's trade name, to restore a sort of trans-Pacific service with four pur- chased Dutch vessels. The first of these boats has now sailed. It is suicidal to trust to other merchant marines than our own. It is ridiculous to expect other nations to take care of us; they are occu- pied in pursuing their own interests and defeating ours when ours come into conflict with them. Indeed, it is the duty of every na- tion first to take care of itself; cer- tainly to do that before prating about espousing the cause of hu- manity, joining leagues to enforce peace and assuming other jobs fit for none but those who are self- sufficient. This shipping need has stared us in the face since the war broke out. The problem has been acute for two years. They were years of un- exampled opportunity. The best the administration has been able to do was to appropriate $50,000,- 000 for government merchant ships to provide unfair competition for private enterprise. We need a new deal, or rather a new man at Washington, to play the magnificent cards we still hold. Too many of them have been thrown away already. — Sept. 21, 1916. A Protective Tariff THE DYESTUFFS FAMINE To-day dyeing establishments in this country are running short- handed because we have no dyes from Germany, upon whom we have so long been dependent. In, 1913, the last peaceful year, we bought from Germany $21,017,000 of dyes and chemicals. The talk of esiablishing an Ameri- can dyestuff industry has so far come to nothing. The difficulty seems to ho that the Germans, by patents, secret processes and the development of by-products, produce and sell dyes here so cheaply that our own manu- facturers do not dare to start a dye industry now, unless the govern- ment will promise them a high pro- tective tariff to keep out the Ger- mans after the war. This the Dem- ocratic congress seems in no wise in- clined to do. Congress may be right. It may be that Germany's acquired advan- tages in the matter of producing dyes are such that it pays us to go on buying them from her and pay- ing her with goods in the production of which our climate or our inven- tive genius give us an advantage, such as cotton and agricultural im- plements. But this does not help the pres- ent emergency. Dyeing and print- ing works are shutting down. Paint, wallpaper and ink industries face disaster because of lack of colors. Except for a special dispensation by the German and British govern- tnents allowing a small quantity of German dyes to conn' through for our federal authorities except for I his the colors of our postage stamps and of the very uniforms of our army and navy might have to be changed. England is now maintaining against all goods from Germany to I he United Stales what our admin- istration characterizes as an illegal and indefensible blockade. Ger- many can ship dyes on the high seas to Sweden, for British warships dare not enter the Baltic. Sweden can export her lumber and iron ore to Germany in return. England is "willing" to give per- mission for an occasional shipment of dyes to America to come through the blockade, which we have never recognized. The reason is simple. Experience has taught her that she can get for herself, re-exported from America, part of the German dyes she lets come through to us. How- ever, England is not "willing" that we should ship through this same il- legal blockade cotton for peaceful German industries or milk for starv- ing German children to pay for the dyes. Germany maintains an embargo on the export of dyes until we as- sert our rights to ship to her. She is following a policy of keeping from us what we want until we send her what she wants. She is plainly un- willing to send us dyes "by leave of 400 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS England" and will send them only as part of a free interchange of goods now unlawfully obstructed by the abuse of sea power. The dyestuffs famine will be solved as a part of the larger prob- lem of the rights of neutral trade on the high seas, to which Wash- ington will now turn. — March 11, 1016. DUMPING Everybody knows what dumping means. It means selling goods in a foreign market cheaper than they are sold in the home market. It means selling abroad at or near the cost of production, while selling for a good profit at home. Our own corporations have ex- panded our foreign trade by dump- ing. Congressmen have returned from abroad to complain of finding that sewing machines, or watchi or steel rails, made in America, were sold cheaper in Europe or South America than at home. They often say that the home consumer should buy American goods as cheaply as the foreign consumer, and that if the sewing machine maker can af- ford to sell machines cheap in Brazil he can afford to sell them as cheap here. Xot necessarily. A railroad car- ries much low grade traffic, like brick' and lumber, at a ton-mile rate so low that if this rate were applied to all traffic carried, the road would be bankrupt. But the brick could not be had for transportation if a higher rate were charged. If the brick did not move, that would not allow high class goods to be trans- ported any cheaper. The brick rate nets the railroad enough to pay for the extra cost of moving it and also earns a small amount to apply to payment of fixed charges on the railroad investment, charges which run on no matter how much traffic is carried. By earning a part of the fixed charges, the brick business de- creases the amount that must be earned on high class traffic. The railroads call this "charging what the traffic will bear." When a corporation sells abroad at less than the home price, we call it "dump- ing." The principle is exactly the same. If an American corporation sells cheaply abroad, it is because that cheap price is all that the for- eign traffic "will bear." If the for- eign business were refused because the manufacturer could not get the American price for it, the American consumers would not benefit, any more than the shippers of peaches would benefit if the railroads re- fused to carry brick because they could not charge for carrying it the carload rate on peaches. In countries with developed ex- port trade, this policy of charging on export goods what the traffic. will bear is one of the axioms of busi- ness. It gives the export trade an element of flexibility which, espe- cially in periods of slack markets at home or in periods of severe com- petition abroad, enables the manu- facturer to keep his plant in full operation. Dumping creates no serious prob- lems for the country which does the dumping; the land which need worry is the one that is dumped upon. A tariff, designed to protect home manufacturers against normal prices of foreign producers may wholly fail when these foreign pro- ducers dump their goods. Logically, anti-dumping legislation is the cor- A PROTECTIVE TARIFF 491 ollary of a protective tariff. Our manufacturers have forced Canada to add to her protective tariff a pro- viso that whenever an American cuts his home price in his Canadian sales, the Canadian duty is increased by the amount of that cut. Now it may become necessary to add the anti-dumping feature to our tariff, to protect our markets from being flooded after the war. But let us in any case do this with our eyes open, realizing the large extent to which we ourselves dump and. hence the extent to which we lay ourselves open to tariff retaliations. And let us realize that dumping on foreign markets is not a pernicious and wicked activity of our manufactur- ers, but a legitimate weapon to ex- tend export trade and of advantage rather than harm to our industry. — July 1, 1916. DUMPING OR MONOPOLY PRICE? Certain circles have been in a state of agitation about the resump- tion of German dye exports to this country. It was claimed that these German dyes would be thrown upon the American market at a mere frac- tion of the cost of production, and that the incipient American dye in- dustry would become at one blow a dead industry. Now see what has happened : The Deutschland comes over with 500 tons of dyes bought by the Eastern Forwarding Company. The Eastern Forwarding Company refuses to dump these goods. They are wick- edly taking advantage of the high prices which dyes command in America, due to our refusal to en- force our right to trade with Ger- many through a paper blockade The Eastern Forwarding Company is temporarily a monopolist, and is doing what any other monopolist will do — charging all that the traf- fic will bear. Hereby the Eastern Forwarding Company runs into the accusation of extortion. How high or how low shall they sell dyes? How can they please? It all depends upon whom you ask. If you ask the American dye manu- facturer he will say that those dyes cannot be sold too high to suit him. The dye user will tell you that Ger- man dyes cannot be sold here too low to meet his tastes. At this moment the danger of dumping is not imminent. — Jul// If), 1916. DEPENDENCE ON GERMAN DYES Those who clamor for a high pro- tective tariff to create an American dye industry and shield us from the competition of German dyes may be right. .But they must not wholly for- get that if we are to sell Germany goods we must buy from them in re- turn. Otherwise they cannot pay us. We export $16,000,000 of lard to Germany and buy about $8,000^000 of dyes from them. If we refuse to buy their $8,000,000 of dyes, we si mil have to stop selling $8,000,000 of goods to them, perhaps lard. Let us assume that it will be lard. Five thousand farmer boys in Iowa who used to produce corn to feed the hogs that supplied this German lard lose their market. But there is employ- ment for them. Five thousand hands are wanted at Bayonne to make dyes which we will no longer import from Germany. In the same way five thousand hands in Germany stop THE GRAYEST 366 DAYS producing dyes and turn to produc- ing corn. Both countries are losers by the process. American users pay more than they used to pay for dyes whose production at home is forced. German consumers pay more than before for their lard. In neither country are more men employed than before. This is the son of thing that could result from the proposed high tariff on dyes. This is the sort of insane result which the entente pow- ers are aiming at in their announced economic war on Germany after the war. America will develop industrially and will get reasonable protection to aid her. Hut there are certain goods so much more cheaply produced else- where — for reason of soil, rare in- ventions, high industrial organ] tion — that we do well to leave their production, for the time at least, in other hands. In turn, we will pro- duce for export an excess, over home requirements, of those goods for which our production cost is low. — Jul u 20, 1016. THE DEMOCRATIC TARIFF COMMISSION Bj the time the Democratic cau- cus finally takes its fangs out of the tariff commission bill which Pres dent Wilson so suddenly decided to advocate, it will be stamped all over with the imprint "Good for cam- paign purposes only." \~ the bill stands to-day. it is a repudiated measure. Into every line is written the traditional opposition of the Democratic party to any effort to protect American industries through the tariff. It is simply not in the blood of the Democratic party to take any other attitude. An Eskimo could live at the equator quite as comfort- ably as the Democratic party could thrive in the atmosphere of an un- building protective tariff. It was created as a free trade party, has lived as a free trade party and can never sincerely be other than a free trade party. Every Democratic senator or con- gressman who has spoken on the sub- ject has been more frank about his real convictions than has Mr. Wilson. They have all revealed, in one way or another, their abhorrence of the measure which the President, for ctioneering purposes, is forcing them to enact. They do not believe in it. and they are making a record which plainly shows a determination not to allow it to be permanent. They regard it solely as a ••war" measure, and do not intend that it shall outlast the war. The latesr amendment adopted by the Senate caucus prohibits the commission from leasing offices for longer than two years: at the same time, the sal- aries of the commission are reduced from $10,000 to $7,500. The tem- porary character of the commission is thus emphasized. The country is put on notice that two years is to be the life of the commission — just long enough for the war to end and the tlood of European products to begin swamping home products in the American market. We will then re- turn to the conditions we faced in this country as war began in L914. Every manufacturing center in Europe will be joyous over the way in which the Democratic party pro- poses to "protect" American indus- tries if it is permitted to remain in power at Washington. — Aug. IS. 1016. A PKOTECTIVE TAKIFF 493 THE DYESTUFFS TARIFF The pending revenue bill includes a protective tariff against imported dyestuffs, to apply as soon as the war is over and to free us from the importation of German dyes. Possibly the dyestuffs industry is one that will flourish in this country with a small amount of protection. More likely we shall have to increase the present duties. Experience will teach us. But we have been driven to enact the tariff not by any calm consideration of industrial policy, but by the administration's desertion of American dye users. Great distress came upon very large interests because the govern- ment refused to do more than assert, in academic language, that Great Britain had no right to stop our sup- plies of German dye products. The fair words did the dye users no good. So they ask for the alternative solu- tion ; the creation of a* dye industry within our own borders. But this is a solution to which all nations are being driven. Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Jlol- land will not dare in the future to rely on us for any necessity of life, for this war has seen the destruction not only of the right of neutral na- tions to maintain with belligerents their non-contraband trade by sea, but neutrals have even been estopped from trading with each other. Ask every neutral European nation and the answer comes that the situation is due to us and us alone. No small European neutral dared assert its rights while we showed ourselves willing to forfeit ours. The foreign trade experts of the administration could do the country a service. They might explain just where our foreign trade is to expand. In their explanation they must keep before themselves the fact that the allies have pledged themselves to preferential trade arrangements with each other. They must keep in mind the fact that the central powers and neutral Europe have learned by bit- ter experience that we are willing to allow a belligerent sea power to sus- pend our trade as it chooses. This is the true significance of our abandonment of the principles of in- ternational law. International law on the sea was supposed to safeguard against belligerent violation those very trade relations which we pas- sively see broken. Without those safeguards the very basis of interna- tional trade, the basis of our oversea markets, is withdrawn. At present no one can help buy- ing from us, however much or little we are allowed to deliver. After the war it will be different. The nations will seek sources of supply on which they can depend. — Sept. 9, 1916. American Preparedness COMPULSORY SERVICE I know how many men I want. I know their names and the numbers on their doors, and if they don't come I will fetch them. Give me the men and muni- tions i want and I guarantee we shall have the war in the hollow of our hands. "Kitchener." "If they don't come I will fetch them !" Slowly, reluctantly, the ne- cessities of war are crowding the English people away from the ideal of individualism. That there shall be no compulsory service is one of the sacred traditions of the liberty- loving English, as it is a tradition of our own country, so strong that no political leader, barring one, of our statesmen has dared announce himself in favor of a campaign for universal, compulsory military serv- ice. Yet if there is any lesson in this war it is that a nation cannot mobilize its efforts unless supported by every available citizen. Any vol- untary system brings out the self- sacrifice of the noblest and best and leaves the laggards and the selfish ones to pursue their course and to shirk their share of the burden of national defense. This war has brought destruction, death, misery; it has loosened the control that has been established by years of scientific and sanitary ef- forts over ravaging diseases. But it has also brought about great good. Standing shoulder to shoul- der in the trenches of France the capitalist and the common laborer have found new bonds of kinship. In the awe of death that waits for them all alike they are learning anew the lesson of human brother- hood. Society has discovered that it can be strong only as its mem- bers.— Oct. 6, 1915. STAND BY THE PRESIDENT Better than anyone else in Amer- ica President Wilson knows our country's need of military prepar- edness. Beyond a doubt he has learned many things which he does not dare disclose about the present >ituation. There must have come to him in the many confidential conferences at the White House since the war began information that no other one man can possibly possess. More closely than any other President since Lincoln, Mr. Wilson has been brought into inti- mate contact with the subject of war, its causes and its consequences. Never in our history has the ques- tion of national defense been so acute. Xo other President has had occasion to study so intimately and inquire so deeply into this subject. We know that he is bringing to bear in the formation of his policy all that he has learned from the lessons of Europe's war and all that our own naval and military experts have been able to give Mm for his guidance. So when the President says that what we need most is a great navy, the people of America AMERICAN PREPAREDNESS 495 must accept and back up the pro- gramme for more and bigger battle- ships, cruisers, destroyers and sub- marines. The President is clearly right in his belief that this is our first and greatest need. It is impossible to imagine the United States engaged in an aggressive war. We need preparedness only for defense, and any attack upon us must be from overseas. Our friendly neighbor, Canada, on the north, will never at- tack us; our somewhat boisterous neighbor, Mexico, on the south, could not attack us effectively even if its people could unite on a pro- gramme of war against the United States. We do not believe, however, that naval preparedness alone will give tbis country a sufficient guarantee of permanent peace, nor is it enough to provide for the nucleus of a volunteer army. The entire na- tion — men, machinery, railroads, ag- riculture, every productive activity — must be organized into a workable machine available for effective use against a foreign foe. We believe that President Wilson will eventually recognize this truth if he does not see it now. In the meantime it is the duty of every patriotic American to sink his par- tisan prejudices and personal desires and stand behind the President for the prompt carrying out of the new naval programme. — Oct. 29, 1915. THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS There is much to cheer the heart and stimulate national confidence in the President's address before the Manhattan Club last night. With the President's reiterated declaration for pacific purpose and amicable relations every patriotic citizen must agree heartily. "Char- ity to all, malice toward none," is the tenor of his observations on this important point in our national life. Such a policy underlies the very foundations of the republic, and the President does well to recall the fact to the attention of the people in this moment of world-wide stress. Mr. Wilson's plea for a greater army, as a means of defending the splendid things for ourselves and for all mankind for which the repub- lic tsands, will find an echo in every intelligence — so far as the principle, at least, of preparedness is con- cerned. Many may dissent — as The Evening Mail dissents — from the theory that the full national re- sources can be mobilized in time of peace for availability in time of war by the method of voluntary service. There is a growing feeling in this country that this can be accom- plished only by the introduction of some form of compulsory service. The President's pledge for a more powerful and more modern navy as our first line of defense will meet with undivided support among all our citizens who have ears to hear the voice of history and eyes to see the trend of events. Congress, if it be as sensitive to public feeling as it should be, can have no choice but to heed Mr. Wilson's well-rea- soned advice on this phase of our national activities. With the President's warning of divided loyalties among some of our citizens of foreign origin, every citizen who realizes the magnitude of his heritage must agree in prin- ciple and in practice. This is no 496 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS land, nor is it a time, for divided loyalties, for harkings back to issues which involve the danger of racial discord within the republic, or of qualified loyalty to its vital interests. At all times, and espe- cially in the present world-wide clash of interests, the duty of every American citizen is to devote all the powers of his mind and his heart to the good of his own country. The President's casual mention of the need of mobilizing our resources indicates that his views of prepared- ness as the problem of the nation do not vise to the requirements of the occasion. We are at the parting of the ways. Our theory of individual- ism has led to the conception of a national government with inade- quate powers. The doctrine of states' rights must go. The organi- zation of armies, as in England, on the basis of voluntary contract, has proved ineffective in this war. The culmination of the democratic idea of the "nation in arms," born in the storm and stress of the French revo- lution, is now the universal order of the day. Preparedness cannot be purchased by the payment of a few dollars ad- ditional per capita taxes, to be ex- pended in the purchase of equip- ment and the hiring of men. We must have the courage to say to every young American, as he ripens into manhood: "You MUST give your country a period of service, and when the need arises you MP ST GIVE LIFE ITSELF/' A vast organization, comprising the highest business talent, must be created. The aid of the corporations must be enlisted, but on such a basis as not to tempt them to wish for war. All this involves a conception of the state little in harmony with the traditions of the Democratic party, which grew out of individualism and theories of liberty and states' rights in direct conflict with the realiza- tion of a powerful central govern- ment. The DUTY of the citizen must be emphasized at the expense of his privilege. He must be taught to travel a new road. Thenceforth, by service and devotion to his nation, he must act as a unit in a socialized group. Out of the traditions and power of a nation thus glorified by the devotion of its citizens, each citi- zen will draw a fuller and richer life for himself. Can the Democratic party achieve this vast transition from its indi- vidualistic past? The undertaking is one that would flow much more naturally from the traditions of the Republican party, which holds with- in its ranks to a much greater extent the organizing genius of business men. The President has undertaken a staggering task of leadership within his party, a task in which he de- serves the support of every patriotic American. — Nov. 5, 1915. WAR AND CHRISTIANITY Mr. Bryan finds President Wil- son's national defense programme "a challenge to the spirit of Chris- tianity." In all his speculations on the sub- ject of war and peace Mr. Bryan is guided by the assumption that all war is un-Christian and all peace Christian. AMERICAN PREPAREDNESS 497 It may be doubted whether all peace — even the kind of peace which Mr. Bryan has in mind — lies in an essentially Christian direction. What pacifists mean by peace is a thing about which there is no very great clearness. Mr. Bryan appears to mean by peace a vapid state of so- ciety from which all the feelings and impulses ordinarily associated with the idea of nationality have been eliminated. Peace of this kind would — whether or not Mr. Bryan realizes it — be apt to flower out into some form of materialism or sen- sualism, rather than anything re- sembling Christianity. It would be a kind of peace which would offer to the spirit of Chris- tianity a still more unmistakable challenge than President Wilson's plan for increasing our military force. But assume that Mr. Bryan knows what he means by peace, and that the peace in question lies in a Christian direction. Will such peace be promoted by this country dis- arming? If all nations were to dis- arm and to begin simultaneously the practice of Christian ethics the policy of disarmament might be practicable. But Mr. Bryan's proposal is that this country expose itself to the armed force of a world in which no such foundation of Christian moral- ity really exists. To follow counsels of this kind might lead to national humiliation and disaster, but hardly, as things now stand, to anything like Chris- tianity. Mr. Bryan's programme would not promote the general in- terests of Christianity; and they would certainly not promote the in- terests of this country. — Nov. 6, 1915. PREPAREDNESS— REAL AND OTHER At the Chicago banquet of the Na- tional Security League on Wednes- day night former President Taft gave his views on "Preparedness." Ik repudiated the Bryan pacifism as foolish and the Roosevelt idea as too radical. His own position seemed to be enshrouded in that twilight zone always sought by people of timidly good intentions and equally timid action. It was about as defi- nitely located as the war stories we read so frequently nowadays under the date line "Somewhere in France." Of course, they leave mat- ters nowhere in the reader's mind, which seems to be the predicament in which Mr. Taft's listeners in Chi- cago found themselves after he had spoken. He believed in prepared- ness, but preferred not to have too much of it. In other words, if the Taft pre- paredness programme were to be adopted as a national policy, we would spend millions upon some kind of a national defense job, but not the kind of a job that would be a real defense. Why build a Na- mur or a Liege, certain to fall at the time when most vitally needed, rather than a Verdun, which defies big guns and bigger armies ? If we are going in for prepared- ness, let us do it with a thorough- ness that will insure peace, rather than invite war. A state of real preparedness would make every na- tion hesitate to attack us. It would be realized that an attempt at in- vasion would be futile. No troops could be landed on our well-fortified coasts, with an adequate navy doing its duty, too. For this country to do a poor job 198 THE GKAVEST 366 DAYS of preparedness — to hesitate to make an effective defense because of its initial cost — would have the ef- fect, of inviting an opposing nation to our coast line at the first outbreak of war. Even* war office in Europe would have the data of our coast de- fense weaknesses. Opposing navies and armies would be found battering away at places in which we had ex- pended one dollar for an inadequate defense instead of two dollars for a real defense. Evidently Mr. Taft is for the one- dollar defense idea. That differs from the Bryan idea only in the fact that it spends the dollar which Bryan would save. It provides no better defense than the Bryan policy of no defense at all.— Nov. 12, 1915. WAR LESSONS FOR THE U. S. A ban upon the emigration of young men of military age and upon luxury in living arc two of the measures which British statesman- ship is contemplating in the grad- ually developing scheme for the mo- bilization of the resources of the country. Already two of the great trans- atlantic lines, the Cunard and the White Star, have announced their refusal to accept bookings of emi- grants who might be of use at the front, and a mass meeting in Liver- pool the other day passed a resolu- tion calling upon the government to take action under the defense of the realm act to prevent the departure from the country of young men of military age without the special per- mission of the Home Office. The passage of sumptuary laws designed to put a stop to "the thoughtless extravagance and unnec- essary luxury still being indulged in by many persons to the annoyance of their neighbors,*'' a^ a questioner in the House of Commons put it. is one of the possible conservation measures of the future, announced by Premier Asquith. Thus Britain, under the necessi- ties of a great struggle, is facing with apparent equanimity the pros- pect of a material abridgment of its cherished individual rights for the sake of the common good — a sacri- fice which may confront this coun- try at almost any moment in this significant period of universal read- justment. — Nov. 23, 1915. "UNCONSCIOUS BLOOD' 1 ••The navy is very old and very wise." says Rndyard Kipling. "Much of her wisdom is on record and available for reference: but more of it works in the unconscious blood of those who serve her." The poet meant Great Britain's navy, of course, but' he has told in these few words the whole secret of all great military bodies, whether they work on the sea or on the land. It is the secret, not only of Eng- land's navy, which has done in this war everything that was expected of it. but of Germany's army, which is another remarkable example of age and wisdom. All the war lore that has come into the mind of man since Napoleon's time has been working "in the unconscious blood" as well as in the conscious brain of the Prussian machine. England's navy and Germany's army have had the advantage of an unbroken line of spirit, system and officers. The morale, the methods and the tradi- tions have come down through a AMERICAN PREPAREDNESS 499 centvuy and they are proving just what the founders of them wanted them to prove. In this country some of the "un- conscious blood'' of Barry and Far- ragut still flows in the navy; at least it was still flowing strongly enough at Manila and Santiago. It may need an injection of salt and iron to bring it back to its old pul- sation, but it is there. Our army, unfortunately, has no such asset. But it can be made to acquire training and discipline, and these, with the right machinery, will go a long way. — Nov. 23, 1915. A WORD OF ADVICE TO BRYAN, LA FOLLETTE AND KITCHIN In the Commoner of November Congressman Bailey, of Pennsyl- vania, asserts the existence of a mar- velous lobby, "of which the Army and Navy League, the National Se- curity League, the National Rifle Association, the Aero Club of America and scores of similar or- ganizations are the visible expres- sion." Wherefore Mr. Bryan says: "Investigate the activities of the busi- ness group pecuniarily interested in in- creased appropriations for army and navy, which has become so active in pushing its selfish demands. Congress ought to at once appoint a committee to investigate. It is more than a lobby. It is a concerted attempt to misinform the whole nation with a view to the securing of enormous profits at the ex- pense of the taxpayers. Publicity is the surest weapon with which to meet an evil of this kind. Let the people once know the real motive back of this move- ment for preparedness and it cannot succeed. Exposure will kill it. Turn on the light and let the country see the fraudulent character of the pretended patriotism which is now being paraded before the country by men who claim a superior attachment to the nation, but are in fact nothing but leeches and para- sites. The investigation ought to corn- menoe at once." We favor the investigation provided it is not conducted by irresponsibles and blatherskites. Where a man who makes the claims to public leadership that Bryan does brings such charges against reputable organizations of citizens as are named in Bailey's article, he ought to be compelled to make good. An investi- gation such as he proposes would be an exposure of his own incurable irrespon- sibility and a valuable discounting of such influence as has survived. — Chicago Trioune. Mr. Kitchin to-day went over the situation with several prominent mem- bers of the 1 luuse. lie said : I believe we might find some interest- ing facts about the backers of the Navy League and the National Security League. Let's find out whether they own stock in munition plants. Let's find out whether all this preparedness sentiment is real or is manufactured by men who expect to profit by it. "I want to keep the people from being taxed for preparedness. If I cannot pre- vent it I will not oppose my party in providing the necessary revenues." I I is idea is that before anything is done toward spending hundreds of mil- lions of dollars for national defense there should be an investigation to show whether the needs are real or fancied, and principally whether the whole move- ment for preparedness is not inspired by gigantic interests which have dreams of reaping a golden harvest from the gov- ernment. — Washington Dispatch. Senator Robert M. La Follette to-day puolished a signed statement in his news- paper attacking the preparedness pro- gram, if it was to be carried out through private contracts. He cited figures tending to prove that huge profits were being made by the millionaires of the United States who were interested in munitions plants. The statemeut in part follows : "At present these patriots are devoting their great talents to the making of pub- lic opinion for a big standing army and a big navy." — Dispatch from Madison, Wis/ 500 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS Every editor knows that he is timent for the creation of a force advocating a policy of preparedness to serve as the basis of a national from his knowledge of a certain defense, he has cleared the great body of facts. Every munition man- issne of the day and has placed it ufacturer knows that the movement squarely before the reason and the for preparedness exists entirely conscience of the people. without his initiative or assistance, The urgency of the issue, in the and every public man who makes President's view, is indicated by his such assertions as those made by words : Mr. Bryan, Mr. La Follette and Mr. T . . .. , , ., . . . . . J , ' , I cannot tell you what the mterna- lvitchm loses, in a greater or less de- tional relations of this country will be gree, the confidence and esteem of to-morrow, and I use the word literally, the editors and manufacturers. And I would not dare keep silent and let The editors know that no effort the country suppose that to-morrow was Tii ,1 as certain to be as bright as to-day. has been made to urge them to carry on a campaign for prepared- The logic of history has placed ness. They know that these gentle- upon the shoulders of the Ameri- men make statements which they can people a heavier burden than cannot know to be true. They know any that has been borne by a nation that these gentlemen cannot know before. America's undertaking that them to be true, because there are the one hundred million people of no such facts. the United States shall guarantee The campaign for preparedness the rest of the nations of the hemi- on the part of the newspapers rep- sphere, from the Eio Grande to resents the settled convictions of the Tierra del Fuego, from impingement editors based on indisputable facts. by the vast pressure of Europe or It is impossible to respect public of Asia, is the greatest international men who are willing to make ac- engagement that ever has been en- cusations that are without founda- tered into in history, tion. — Nov. 30, 1915. This undertaking, so vitally im- portant to the liberties of the United States itself, cannot be carried out without sacrifices far greater than WILSON ON PREPAREDNESS The President's appeal for pre- any that the President has yet con- paredness in his notable address last templated in his public utterances, evening will awaken a vigorous re- The guardianship of the two Amer- sponse in the hearts of the Ameri- icas against encroachment from can people. By his plain-spoken, whatsoever quarter necessitates a unequivocating stand for the mobil- plan of preparedness based upon ization of the nation's resources, compulsory universal service. And, human and material, for the defense as the President wisely points out, of the country's honor and its inde- a state of adequate preparedness in- pendence, Mr. Wilson has performed volves not only the placing of the a great service to America. By entire youth of the land at the uniting the traditional Republican government's disposal in the hour demand for an adequate army and of need, but a continuing plan of navy, and by focusing within his training and organization against own party the hitherto divided sen- that inevitable hour of need. AMERICAN PREPAREDNESS 501 Such a continuing policy, aimed at the creation of a smoothly work- ing defensive organization, must in- clude the manufacturing resources of the country. It must include within its comprehensive scope every factory, every establishment for the production of food supplies, every financial institution. When the country's defenders stand face to face with the enemy there must be no bickering over contracts in the rear; there must be no speculation at the cost of human lives; there must be no haggling over profits while our defenders are being mown by the invaders' fire; there must be no strikes to tie up the country's powers of production in any depart- ment of supply. Capital must be prepared to rec- ognize the government's first call upon its manufacturing resources. The nation should obtain a clear right to all the manufacturing fa- cilities within its boundaries at a fixed rate of profit of six per cent. Labor must understand that Amer- ica, in time of the coming crisis, will be entitled to the full services of its brain and its brawn. In return for the prospective sac- rifices to be made by labor, the gov- ernment must see to it that men- tally, morally and physically those who work with their hands shall be fully up to the requirements of service in the factory or on the field. Recent statistics of enlistment in the regular army show that of those who presented themselves in the re- cruiting offices only eleven per cent, met the requirements. That is an appalling indication of the wastage of human resources in this country. The realization by the President of the importance of the educational phase of the problem is indicated by the following passage in his address last evening: We ought to have in this country a great system of industrial and vocational education, under the federal guidance, and with federal aid, in which a very large percentage of the youth of this country will be given training in the skillful use and application of the princi- ples of science in maneuver and business. And the day will come, as it must, when the nation in its own defense will undertake a much wider scope of educational activities, designed to insure to its service the highest type of men that physical training, eco- nomic well-being and intelligent in- fluencing of individual lives can bring about. The policy of building up a na- tion virile in body, strong in mind and invincible in spirit should be maintained unswervingly and con- tinuously, regardless of changes of administration or of party control. It is not aspiration toward pre- paredness, but a definite programme, definitely applied, that will solve the problem which America is fac- ing. In this lack of a clean-cut programme the President and his advisers have fallen short of the urgent requirements of the hour. — Jan. 28, 1916. GOVERNMENT ARMOR PLANTS No more fallacious theory could be held by men responsible for shap- ing national policies than the plan of the Senate naval committee to establish government armor-making plants. The government could not successfully operate such a plant, and should not if it could. Senator Tillman, in presenting the commit- tee's report urging government own- 502 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS ership, declared that the armor plate manufacturers are in the habit of "holding up" the government as to prices, and that their "stand and deliver" policy is responsible for the determination to have the govern- ment make its own plate. It is not necessary to challenge the correctness of Senator Tillman's assertion regarding the attitude of manufacturers in order to show the unwisdom of the course he advo- cates. It may be true, doubtless it is true, that the three large manu- facturers of armor plate, who prac- tically control the industry, have made the government pay sub- stantial prices — perhaps exorbitant prices. The remedy which the sen- ator prescribes, though, is really worse than the disease. It would surely result in a much higher cost for the plate turned out, and it would reverse the true policy which the government should pursue. It is preposterous to say that the government must submit to the ex- actions of private manufacturers in such a matter, or that its only means of escape is a heavy investment in a plant of its own and heavy main- tenance of operative charges perma- nently. Making armor plate is not a function of government : and sub- mitting weakly to the exactions of armor plate manufacturers is by no means a necessity. Armor plate is essential to the defense of the na- tion, and, as such, its manufacture comes well within the government's right of control. In this matter, as in many other phases of "pre- paredness," the government's wise policy is to encourage private manu- facturers in every possible way, but to control them as well. That is to say, the government should insist on establishing a cost-basis for turn- ing out armor plate, allow a rea- sonable profit, and possibly allow a fixed sum per annum for the right, in emergencies, to work the plant to its fullest capacity according to the government's needs. Such a policy would tie up pri- vate enterprise to the government on a profitable basis, but it would not tie up the government to a costly manufacturing project. The nation would control, as it has an undoubted right to control, as to quantity and price of output; but the work of developing new ideas and of bettering quality would be left where it properly belongs, and would be paid for on a basis fair to all. Private enterprise, made keenly alive to its responsibility to the na- tion, and held to that responsibility by the power of the government, would spell efficiency and economy. It would keep politics entirely out of our "preparedness" plans, what- ever they may be, and give the coun- try a dependable source of supply for all its needs.— Feb. 15, 1916. A GREAT AMERICAN PHILANTHROPIST Prom London has come very im- portant news for our War depart- ment. A high official, in a cable news dispatch, headed "America's Turn if Verdun Falls," states that: The chief object of the attack on Ver- dun is to force an early peace in Europe so that the German government would have its army and navy free to attack the United States. Then the official in question, "whose identity cannot even be hinted at," went on: AMEEICAN PEEPAEEDNESS 503 The aim of the War office in Berlin is to attack the United States without giving the administration at Washington time to raise a trained army to repel the invaders or bring the navy up to its full fighting strength. The identity of our unconscious benefactor "cannot even be hinted at." How very, very secret. How modest is true virtue. An American philanthropist was determined not to let the flower blush unseen and set out to dis- cover this prophet, to give him a local habitation and a name, a name inscribed high on the roster of those who have loved and served the re- public. He called together a board of chirographers, clairvoyants and pathologists. He suspected an offi- cial personage in Downing street. The source is even higher. The board is unanimously of the opinion that the warning was issued to us by the lord high janitor of the House of Parliament. Their read- ing of the signs makes them certain that his lordship delivered his opin- ion on a wet Saturday night. To supplement this uncovering of the danger from one quarter, the philanthropist prepared to lay bare the peril from others. He cabled the corresponding Parliament offi- cials in Paris, Eome and Petrograd. From Paris he learns that if the Turks take the Suez canal they will at once march on Memphis. Eome sent a cable muddled in transmis- sion. It appears to be a warning that if the German fleet escapes from the Kiel canal it will be to shell Duluth. Petrograd reports that if the Austrians gain the least success in north Italy they will send an expedition against Compagnoli's fruit stand on Jerome avenue. — March 27, 1916. WORK TO BE DONE Frank A. Vanderlip says, "What we do in the next twenty-five months will determine the course of our his- tory as a nation for the next twenty- five years." A glimpse at the nature and the urgency of the national problems which press for a solution will show that Mr. Vanderlip knows what he is talking about. Here are some of these problems : The organization of an army and navy that shall be adequate for the defense of the country from inva- sion and shall win for it the place among the nations to which its size, population and wealth entitle it. The knitting together of our rail- road system into a network which shall be extensive enough and co- ordinated enough to serve all the purposes not only of commerce but of defense. The thorough organization of our financial resources in such a way that the derangements arising out of the fluctuations of business and the strain of extraordinary war ex- penditures shall not dislocate our money system. The construction and establish- ment of a great merchant marine which shall enable us to send the products of our enterprise and our industry to the markets of the world and bring to our own market the materials which we may need from abroad, without exposing our foreign commerce to the mercy of the capi- talists or governments of other na- tions. The development of our educa- tional system to serve all the pur- poses of a well-rounded and many- sided mental, physical, vocational and industrial training; the elimi- nation of such fallacies in the public 504 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS school management of our great cities as the school board of New York, with its forty-seven members, its forty-seven counsels and its forty- seven obstacles to unified action; the halting of the present erroneous course of theoretical instruction and the correlation of education with life. Only by this means shall we be able to produce a nation of trained workers. The adjustment of the relations between business and government, so that the two great forces in the state shall become supplementary to each other instead of working at cross-purposes, at heavy cost to the nation in the needless expenditure of money and a vast duplication of effort. These are some of the problems to be solved within the next two years if the life of the country is to be conserved in the crucial period through which we are bound to pass in the course of the next quar- ter of a century — the period of the world's reconstruction after the pres- ent struggle. Where is the leadership, where are the spiritual forces that shall accom- plish these indispensable measures of nation-building? — March 31, 1916. LET US BE READY TO HIT HARD Whether a democracy can pre- pare for or against war in its mod- ern meaning is a fascinating ques- tion, and it actually promises to be solved by us before long. The American people is practical-mind- ed, if not actually mechanical- minded, and it may actually be that it will listen to experts in this grave matter instead of to politicians. Here lies our only hope. It is utterly stupid to poke our heads into the sand of mere defen- sive preparedness talk. Much better grow queues. A nation must strike in order to defend. Mere warding off blows will not do. Sowing our coasts with a million mines, setting cannon to run up and down our shores on wheels and launching whole schools of submarines is only a secondary and negative side of the question. It is the striking arm that settles wars, the arm that can strike hardest and most frequently. England has concentrated on her navy. Her people are maritime- minded. They are intelligently in- terested in all that pertains to the navy. They understand war in terms of dreadnoughts and sailors. France concentrated on her army. Every man and boy was a soldier or a potential soldier. The people were interested in the army because they understood it and were a part of it. They knew war in terms of infantry and seventy-five millimeter guns. England lost practically her whole veteran European army, except such officers and men as had been reserved to train recruits, by the end of the battle of the Marne. France has since helped whip a new army into shape and the English army in France is absolutely under French control. France, on the other hand, depends almost wholly on England for marine operations. Both coun- tries specialized. If our American intelligence re- garding our army and navy is an index to our interest in them, that interest is microscopic. Since 1865 our minds have been running to the issues of peace, and the Spanish war, AMERICAN PREPAREDNESS 505 for most of us, was a momentary newspaper thrill. We have had lit- tle reason to be interested in war, and so we know practically nothing about it. If we did we would either prepare harder or give up the game. It takes twenty years to make an efficient officer for a general staff. The various branches of military service are requiring just as assid- uous devotion to mastery of tech- nique as demands surgery, or en- gineering, or synthetic chemistry — in fact, it actually includes these professions in its scope. It takes time to train officers, it takes time y to train men. In other words, it takes time to make over a large part of the nervous system of our human machines before we can get a mod- ern soldier. We may learn to turn out sub- marines at the rate that Henry Ford turns out cars or Ingersoll ticks out watches, but the men to man them have to be found, tested and trained. As a nation we have not special- ized in either army or navy. Our Congress can at one and the same time be interested in a proposed abandonment of our vital naval base in the Pacific and in a measure to increase our fleet. . Our people can listen approvingly to the rhetorical stupidities about that million men that can rush to the colors over night in case of danger. Only of late have there been symptoms of a realization that war is a profession, defensive war or offensive war, and that it is time to listen to experts and not to politicians. Congress may waste the nation's time splitting hairs about sundry amateur bills, but the American peo- ple are thinking about preparing to build up an army and navy. They have not yet begun to think clearly, or to ask themselves "for what?" Fifty-seven varieties of preparedness have been dished out for sampling, but the questions of the expert are gradually being faced. Shall we prepare to deal with Mexico? Then let us forget indus- trial preparedness and all the rest and concentrate on cavalry, mule- back kitchens and aeroplanes. Shall we prepare to defend our- selves against Japan? Then there is nothing doing in regard to giving up Manila bay. We will stock it with coal and food and munitions. We will build ships to transport troops and ships to safeguard their way. We will get ready to strike first if any striking has to be done. Shall we get ready to keep Eng- land from our coasts? Then what shall we do about Halifax, Bermuda and Kingston? Is it France that we .fear ? What have we to compare with her sev- enty-five centimeter rapid-firers, and with her magnificent discipline of men on foot? Germany ? But the whole lexicon of military efficiency is there for us to read as much of as we can, and we must meet her on her own grounds or go under. Switzerland, is it? But we will not be ridiculous; the question is big and grave, although not very definite. Let us silence the elo- quence of the politician and listen to the men who know, and if we must get ready to strike, let us pre- pare to hit hard. — May 13, 1916. AMERICAN AIRMEN A few evenings ago a reader wrote and commented upon the unneutral- ity of Americans who were serving in the air squadrons of the allies. 506 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS The complaint is perhaps a natural one, yet when analyzed it loses its force. • The country is under no obliga- tion to prevent any citizen from vol- untarily enlisting in the army of any belligerent. Our sole duty is to see that belligerent agents do not use our soil as recruiting ground. More Americans enlist in the en- tente forces because the entente holds the seas and bars the way to Americans of German descent who would like to serve with the central powers. Yet there are many Ameri- cans with the German and Austrian armies. In no case will the number of our countrymen thus serving have any perceptible influence on the outcome of the war. The sole effect of their service will be to give them expe- rience in the new art of modern war. When they return to us they will be invaluable assets in the work of pre- paring this country for military effi- ciency. Above all else, this will be true of the war-tried American airmen. The flurry in Mexico has shown us the desperate need of this branch of the service. — May 22, 1916. SOCIAL PREPAREDNESS A nation which has no money in times of peace to do away with its slums, and yet finds money to-day to throw the unprepared slum prod- uct into the trenches, presents a pic- ture that is not pleasing to many Americans. The picture is driving these Americans, in fact, to a cry for so- cial as well as military prepared- ness that is increasing in volume every day. Many times the advo- cates of social preparedness have seemed at loggerheads with the ad- vocates of military preparedness. In our own town Misha Appel- baum has been hiring halls and in the name of the Humanitarian Cult has been demanding that the Presi- dent's cabinet be reorganized to take in a Secretary of Welfare, who shall do most of the things in the name of government that are now done by private charity societies. The aim of Mr. Appelbaum and some 18,000 followers who have signed as members of his organi- zation is to have the government make a direct drive at poverty and slum conditions. From a rather unimportant and small up-town hall the movement has twice overflowed the seating ac- commodations of Carnegie Hall. The other day Mr. Appelbaum rushed out to Detroit to place his pro- gramme before Henry Ford. Mr. Ford immediately hired the largest armory in Detroit and invited Mr. Appelbaum back for this evening to tell his stoiy to the people of Detroit at large. This propaganda, strange to say, makes full admission of the need for military preparedness and makes the job of obtaining social preparedness one of assembling parts for a much more gigantic preparedness machine than one of armaments and arms alone can ever be. It takes into account the value of contentment among the people, of happiness derived through de- cent recreation and peace in old age through a consciousness of freedom from economic dependence. In this work it appears that Mr. Ford will find a task entirely congenial to him, which will not be much unlike the task of assembling parts in his own factories. — June 6, 1916. AMEKICAN PKEPAREDNESS 507 LOCATING THE GOVERN- MENT ARMOR PLANT There is much unseemly discus- sion as to the military safety of our present steel industry. Mr. Ed- monds, editor of the Manufacturers' Record of Baltimore, the organ of southern industrial interests, wants large munitions works, especially armor plate works, established in the South, probably the Birming- ham district. He says that plants with this location would be more safe from foreign attack than plants dependent upon supplies of Lake Su- perior ore. Charged with a sectional element in his patriotism, Mr. Ed- monds has more recently included the "central west" as an admissible site for the new development. It may possibly be that the am- munition factories at Bridgeport and New Haven are unduly open to sudden foreign attack, but what Mr. Edmonds assails is the position of the heavy steel industry, making pig-iron and rolling-mill products in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Their weak- ness, he says, consists in the fact that they get ore from northern Min- nesota via the Great Lakes. In case of war with England Mr. Edmonds foresees that the Soo locks would be blown up and our eastern blast fur- naces would be helpless. Eeminded that we could still get ore from northern Minnesota to Pennsylvania by rail, he answers that the ore fields would be at once captured and held by an attack from the Canadian bor- der. The inference we are asked to draw is that we must no longer be dependent upon Lake Superior ore, but must develop only the Alabama product. The steel industry is mainly lo- cated at centers between Pittsburgh, where coke comes from, and Duluth, where ore comes from. It is so lo- cated for very good and sufficient economic reasons: Because those are the most advantageous locations for assembling coke, coal, limestone, labor, machinery, and for reaching the great consuming markets. In re- cent years there is also a growth of the heavy steel industry near the At- lantic seaboard, as at Bethlehem, Pa., because of a growing use of for- eign ores and a growing importance of foreign markets. Finally, there is a healthy development in the South. There is no military reason for a governmental policy attempting to dislocate the industry using Lake Superior ores, as might be done by throwing all government armament orders to the southern plants. If, in a war with Great Britain, we can- not hold our own Minnesota ore fields, we cannot hold anything. Surely the Canadians alone cannot wrest these fields from us. The cap- ture would be by a British expedi- tion, and it would have a 1,500-mile fight to get from Montreal to the Minnesota border. If a British ex- pedition is strong enough to do this it will rather move south to cut off New York and New England, an in- finitely heavier blow to the country. If Mr. Edmonds wants to protect us from England his only protection is a navy superior to the British or an alliance with a naval power with which jointly we can hold the Brit- ish fleet off. He will hardly recom- mend that. In the meantime, the $11,000,000 government armor-plate plant need not for military reasons be so located as to use southern iron ore — that is, located in the South. In deciding upon this location the sec- 508 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS retary of the navy will not neglect the economic considerations which have placed the bulk of the country's steel industry elsewhere. In other words, the sectional plea, however gilded, will be disregarded. — July 27, 1916. AGRICULTURAL PREPARED- NESS Monday, in the United State Sen- ate, Senator Page, of Vermont, in- troduced the vocational-educational bill, providing for government aid for land-grant colleges in the giving of specialized education in agricul- ture, home economics, commercial and industrial training. His most interesting material was his descrip- tion of the vast strides in agricul- tural efficiency made by Germany in the last thirty years, compared with our own slight progress. Agricul- tural education is designed to cor- rect the discrepancy. The senator said: We do not lack for an example as to what intelligent, intensive farming will accomplish. Germany commenced thirty years ago to put the German farms in a condition that will support the German population when it shall have been doubled. We have the statistics showing the comparison between the increased crops of Germany and those of our own coun- try. I know how uninteresting statistics are generally, so I shall burden you but a moment with reference to this thought. It is, however, so pertinent as showing how weak we are in comparison with that energetic, virile nation that I think the figures are well worth the study of every senator. Germany has an area equal only to the three states of Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri. Yet Germany produces three-fifths as much oats, four-fifths as much barley, six times as many potatoes and nine times as much rye as we produce in the whole United States. In the last thirty years German rye production per acre increased 87% while the United States increased 10%; German wheat increased 58%, ours only 14% ; German barley 60%, the United States 10% ; German oats 85%, our own 6% ; German potatoes 80%, ours 7%. It is a notable achievement for a nation whose soil resources are poor and which for the last thirty years has been thought to be specializing on industrial development. The view of this great growth in Ger- many's agricultural production, the increase for every important ar- ticle being greater than the in- crease of population, may ease the anxiety of those who worry because Germany somehow does not follow the instructions of her ene- mies and starve. Intensive produc- tion of foodstuffs was Germany's answer to the progressive power of the superior British navy, with its threat of starvation in case of war. The time has come for us to hus- band our resources as Germany has done. Toward greater efficiency in the use of the nation's soil something will be contributed by higher agri- cultural education, and by instruc- tion in home economics, which will make farm life more attractive. Something has already been done by the agricultural credit law, which at last throws credit open to the farm- ers on terms commensurate with the excellence of their security, the pro- ducing land of the country. — July 29, 1916. " THE EMPIRE OF THE AIR The achievements of the aviation arms of the warring nations in the AMERICAN PREPAREDNESS 509 pending struggle are only the begin- ning of a vast new offensive and de- fensive power. As Claude Graham- White, the accomplished British aviator, points out in an article printed on this page: Aircraft in this war, the destructive machines, have given no more idea of the size or of the power of the fighting machines of the future than would, a rowboat of an American liner. In the wars of the future it will be the great fighting aeroplanes, the machines for de- stroying hostile craft or for laying waste land positions, which will be to the fore- front. And in an earnest appeal to his countrymen he says : Disaster awaits a nation which ignores these warnings — which refuses to read the writing on the wall. Immediately this terrible conflict comes to an end. the moment that peace is declared, this country must set itself the task of creat- ing and maintaining a great and efficient air service. The aeroplane had its birth in American ingenuity and American enterprise. The failure that led to the death of Prof. Langley, of the Smithsonian Institution, from a broken heart, has developed into a fourth dimension in the science of war — the battle in the air. America has the brains. America has the money. America has the will to avail itself fully of this arm. The development of our aviation possibilities is being held up by an inefficient and blundering govern- mental organization. — Sept. 20, 1916. ORGANIZED DEMOCRACY VS. UNORGANIZED DEMOCRACY A few days ago, in addressing a trade union congress at Bristol, Lloyd George, in begging for the co- operation of workers in machine shops, alluded to the fact that in certain instances where Belgian workmen were employed and were doing their best to increase the pro- duction of munitions of war they were begged by their British col- leagues to slacken up — not to do so much work. In an address a year ago last May in Washington, before the national Foreign Trade Convention, James J. Hill, giving a comprehensive view of world conditions and trade, spoke of Germany's success in the spoils taken from the foreign trade of Great Britain. He said : The power of the English trade unions became practically arbitrary in fixing wages, hours and general working con- ditions. Germany found that, with a more advantageous wage scale, she could go into the world's markets and compete at prices which England could not meet. Hence the enormous growth of German exports of the manufactured articles. For, in the vast pool of the world's activity, where the material, the worker, the machine, the method, fly from one end of the earth to the other at call, only a purblind nation can dream of basing its future on anything less com- manding than equality or superiority in the elements of production ; including, of course, the wages of labor and the re- muneration of capital. This Great Britain has not yet fully realized. The United ■ States does not appear to understand it at all. Wide- spread and long-continued industrial dis- tress in England comes from attempting to hold markets against competitors while maintaining a wage scale that does not permit her to meet their prices, and does not offer to capital an induce- ment to go into new fields of develop- ment or even to remain where it has hitherto been occupied. She meets this not by removing the shackles from her industries, but by fas- tening other shackles on her capitalists ; fetters that must be added later to those that already gall the limbs of labor. She has entered upon the most elabor- ate experiment ever seen to compensate 510 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS the worker for the work he has lost through insisting upon impossible eco- nomic terms, now that work is no longer to be had, by a vast eleemosynary system which makes the whole state pay for his unemployment, his sickness, his misfor- tune and his death. Reduced to its simplest terms, this project is not "numanitarian," but un- speakably cruel ; though that high-sound- ing word and its familiar fellow, "social justice," are common cloaks for legisla- tive cowardice or incapacity that does not dare apply the real remedy to the obvious disease. It merely postpones the inevitable, and intensifies the catastrophe which can no more be averted than hun- ger can satisfy itself on air. The weakness of the British sys- tem, however, is more strongly re- vealed by the conditions of war. It is often said that this is a war be- tween autocracy and democracy. It is futile to quarrel about words or definitions. If we brush aside preconceptions, we will find that this is a war be- tween thoroughly well organized na- tions and loosely organized nations. The day of loosely organized democ- racies is finished. Competition in trade is determined by universal laws. Commercially the world is one vast organization. No one country controls the character or direction of trade, and no nation can afford ar- tificial handicaps in production and merchandising. In the world competition the best organized will prevail. The power of all the people exercised through the government they have organized is stronger than the power of any group of people, whether corporation or labor unions. A people to succeed and to secure general prosperity must organize themselves as a whole, that organiza- tion being expressed in efficient gov- ernment, that is, an actuality of gov- ernment by all the people and for all the people, and not a government so weak that organizations more power- ful than government establish them- selves in the body politic. The weakness in social organiza- tion in Great Britain alluded to by Mr. Hill, that permitted the loss of trade and commerce, also hampers and handicaps Great Britain in her "supreme struggle. A nation will hereafter be able to prosper only if all the forces and all the resources of all the peolpe are organized together efficiently — each willing to subordinate its selfish in- terest to the common good. The United States faces similar problems. Lines of cleavage have become apparent that threaten to separate us on the basis of race or previous nationality. The use of the power of labor unions in politics has not been limited to shortening the day or improving conditions directly. Full crew laws have been placed upon the statute books, compelling inefficient operation of railway trains manned with crews more numerous than the actual needs. Similarly, large business enter- prises have pursued their own selfish ends. In their dealings with labor and with the public as consumers, they have placed their own selfish interests, their own corporate inter- ests, above the welfare of the nation. Such selfish impulses of classes and of individuals break out under the stress of a war and menace the unity and striking power of a nation. The present war is carried by all the forces of every nation involved. Nations no longer can fight in the interest of a special class. The struggle is not between democracy and royalty, for the days when a king or a land-owner class, or any AMEEICAN PEEPAEEDNESS 511 particular section of a nation, could carry the people into an effective war are past, since the advent of uni- versal and compulsory military serv- ice. The struggle is really one between democracies, for in each country the people are back of their government. In England the organization of gov- ernment is so loose that the powerful trades union organizations dominate production even to the nation's detri- ment. In Germany the most effective leadership is in control. Corpora- tions, labor unions, like individual German citizens, are subordinating themselves to the national purposes. Hence their strength. Not only in war, but in the strug- gle for commercial mastery that must follow the war, success will de- pend upon effective national organ- ization. We in the United States have important lessons to learn for our future. — Sept. 25, 1916. Army UNPREPAREDNESS A paragraph in a news dispatch to our neighbor, the World, de- scribing the fighting between the American troops and the Villa raiders at Columbus, N". M., reads as follows : Failure of at least one of the machine guns used by the American troops great- ly handicapped them, outnumbered as they were by the raiders. This paragraph is fraught with a lesson of the highest importance to the American people in this por- tentous moment in history. Back of the failure of "at least one of the machine guns" is a state of af- fairs which requires a drastic and prompt remedy. This machine gun which failed had been manufac- tured by presumably patriotic Americans; inspected by presum- ably competent Americans; cared for under a rigid system of mili- tary discipline by presumably faith- ful Americans. The equipment whose failure put our soldiers at a disadvantage at a critical juncture of unforeseen events broke down not under the stress of long usage but under the initial pressure of the first test. Like our submarines which have failed to work or have gone down with all their officers and men, never to come to the surface again except as coffins, the machine gun at Columbus revealed a fatal defect of construction, or inspection, or organization. Like the military aeroplanes which are either worthless or are deathtraps because of the lack of training in our air service, amid scandalous circumstances the ma- chine gun at Columbus betrayed a deplorable lack of tensile strength in some link of the human chain upon which the coimtry relied. These are not disconnected or chance incidents. They are related events, symptomatic of an essential condition in our national organiza- tion. Machine guns must not fail to do their work when the occa- sion arises for their employment to maintain the dignity of the country and protect the lives of its citizens. Submarine boats must not break down in ordinary maneuvers in time of peace. Aeroplanes must not be a source of danger to their operators because of the lack of training in the aerial arm of the service. Unless the conditions indicated by these events are remedied with- out delay, the country may have reason to regret bitterly the state of chronic inefficiency which has made them possible. — March 11, 1916. PATRIOTIC NEW YORK ATHLETES Events of the past few days have proved the patriotism of New York's athletes and the value of ARMY 513 their training to fit them for ser- vice in a national crisis. Their re- sponse to the country's call has been astonishing'. The mobilization of the National Guard for service at the Mexican border has put an end to athletic competition here for the period of that service, just as effectively as the great world conflict put an end to athletics in Europe, and for the same reason; because the athletes were among the first to offer them- selves for the grim competition of war. In the metropolitan district alone 1,500 athletes are already included among the mobilizing troops, and of these fifty-three are champions in their respective fields. The list includes a dozen Evening Mail Modified Marathon winners. By a rather strange coincidence those in this army of athletes who, but for the European war, would have represented America at the Olympic games this summer, would have left New York for Berlin at almost the moment the mobilization order was issued here. — June 22, 1916. PROVIDING FOR THE FAMILIES The amendment to the army bill, providing for the appropriation of $500,000 for the support of the families of the national guardsmen who have been called out for duty on the Mexican border, looks very much like a small drop in a very large bucket. Many times $500,000 will be needed for the purpose if the government is to carry out an un- questionable duty even on the most modest scale. Private generosity is doing a great deal to supplement the work which impends upon the govern- ment, of taking care of the depend- ents of citizen soldiers on active service. Many employers, individ- ual and corporations, are pledging the continuance of full pay to em- ployes who respond to their coun- try's call and are still further en- couraging enlistments by assuring their workers that their employ- ment will be open to them on their return from the border. Various women's organizations are also taking the initial steps in organized work for the relief of any distress that might occur among the dependents of guardsmen on active duty. But all these provisions cover a very small part of the total number of men who are leaving their homes at the call of their country. It is primarily the duty of their country to provide for their dependents. The country should perform this duty on a reasonably generous scale. —June 24, 1916. MARCHING MEN There is something about the tramp of many feet in unison that stirs the blood. The sturdy sound suggests united purpose. It gives hint of potential force. There is even a suggestion of menace in it. The streets of New York these days and nights are resounding with that tread of strong men, ever marching forward — to trains, to ships, to the unknown. Thousands of the best blood and the keenest brains of this great city — the pick and cream of its young manhood — are in that khaki-clad succession of detachments hastening forward at 514 THE GEAYEST 366 DAYS the call of duty. There are leave- takings, laughter that hides tears, light words that mask deep feelings. It is a demonstration of national consciousness and individual loy- alty to an ideal which the rising generation should treasure in its heart. Where are these men going? The Russian soldier has created words to the simple notes of the re- treat. The call is singularly ef- fective. It consists of a repetition of three descending notes in three different scales, ending in a low, long-sustained hoarse finale. It is the call that is played over the bier or at the graveside of a soldier. The words are a repetition of the single phrase: "Tuikooda?"' ("Whither thou?") That is the question, old as the consciousness of the human race, which obtrudes itself as one listens to the tread of soldiers in the streets of Xew York. Where are these clean - limbed, clear - eyed, keen- brained young men going? The answer to that question must be an inspiration to the growing generation of girls and boys. These soldiers are marching to the high- est purpose which can inspire the heart. They are marching to sus- tain the honor of their country. They are marching to restore, if fate has so decreed, a menaced civilization. They are marching, finally, at the simple call of duty. A man who is incapable of re- sponding to the appeal of duty is not worthy of the high heritage of his citizenship. The marching thousands are made of the stern stuff which has won freedom, vindi- cated right, shattered the chains of tyranny throughout the world in all time.— June 29, 1916. The Garrrison Plan THE CONTINENTAL ARMY The plan elaborated by Secretary Garrison and approved by the Pres- ident for the creation of a new army of 400,000 men, in addition to the augmentation of the regular army by about 35,000 men, looks well — ■ on paper, at least. In some respects the project for the creation of the new force of 400,000 men bears a close resem- blance to the plan so successfully operated in Switzerland, which sum- mons its citizens to the colors for stated periods during a term of years, and thus carries out its pur- pose of creating the "nation in arms" without too serious a dislo- cation of the industrial system of the country. Mr. Garrison's plan provides for the enlistment of 133,000 men in each of three successive years for a service of two months under the colors for the first, second and third years at the pay of the regu- lar army, and a subsequent liabil- ity to service for the remainder of the six-year term. There is one essential difference between the Garrison and the Swiss plan, however, and the suc- cess or failure of the proposed de- fensive organization will depend entirely upon the effect of that dif- ference. In Switzerland the "con- tinental army" is recruited by com- pulsory service — and the military obligation in the little Alpine re- public is enforced as rigidly as it is anywhere else on the European continent. Our continental army is to be manned by "contract," as Mr. Garrison puts it. Will the United States be able to enroll the 133,000 citizens each year which will be necessary for the maintenance of the projected force, when under present condi- tions neither the regular army nor the national guard organizations of the various states are able to main- tain their respective personnels with- out great difficulty? Does it seem wise to enter upon, the contract system when the last of the European nations to employ that system — Great Britain — is abandoning it? — Oct. 18, 1915. 1,500,000 MEN FOR DEFENSE It is an imposing plan of defense that is disclosed in the advance di- gest of the report of the general staff at Washington. The publica- tion of this document in its en- tirety at an early date is urged upon the President by Secretary Garri- son as a valuable contribution by experts to the data available on the subject which is fast assuming a dominant place among the problems of the hour. The Washington dis- patches summarize the recommen- dations of the general staff in its essential features as follows : It is recommended that the regular army be increased to 250,000 men perma- nently with the colors, with reserves of 300,000 fully trained men. Behind this 516 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS line it is proposed to have a force of l.OOO.OOo men with at least a year's training, giving the country an army of about 1,500,000 men fully equipped and easily mobilized. The results aimed at in this plan will meet with the hearty approval of every citizen whose range of vision extends further than the end of his nose. A regular armv of a quarter of a million men, with a reserve of 300,000 men fully trained, as the nucleus of a national arma- ment of a million and a half, sounds well as a preliminary step in the creation of an impregnable wall of national defense. But how is a regular army of 850,000 men to be recruited by the existing machinery, when the army fails in keeping its present numeri- cal strength up to the petty stand- ard of 100.000? How is a reserve of 300.000 men to be built up when the total strength of that arm of the service, as mustered recently at a dinner by Congressman Gardner, numbered sixteen strong? And how is the supplementary force of nearly a million men to be brought into being ? By the present voluntary system of enlistment? Utterly impossible. The excellent project of national de- fense, fully warranted by the un- certainties and hidden menaces of the international situation, cannot begin to be put into effect without the establishment of the principle of obligatory service, imposed by the inexorable requirements of the most vital interests of the country. Without that one vitalizing and enabling energy, all plans for the maintenance of American rights and liberties are bound to degener- ate into mere paper defenses — and in this war more than in any other that has preceded it. paper defenses have proved unavailing against the pressure of national ambitions or national resentments. — Nov. 17. 1915. CONTINENTALS OR COMPULSION? If the nation requires certain service and offers the most favorable opportunity for the citizens to furnish such service, and. notwithstanding that, it cannot se- cure such service, it must then resort to some method of compelling the service. — Secretary Garrisou, in his annual report, outlining the administration's program for the creation of an army of 500.000 men. Mr. Garrison's words might well have been written by Lord Derby at the beginning of that British re- cruiting expert's final attempt to create an army adequate to Britain's urgent need, on the principle of vol- untary service. Lord Derby, when he undertook his staggering task more than two months ago, offered the alternative of "some form" of compulsory service in the event of the failure of the voluntary system to meet the requirements" of the crisis. He was appointed to the post of Britain's chief recruiting of- ficer for the express purpose of mak- ing unnecessary a recourse to that alternative, so repugnant to British traditions of individual liberty. And now, after a thorough trial of the method of raising armies by moral suasion. Lord Derby is quoted as admitting his failure and as fore- casting the imminent day when uni- versal service must be resorted to as an inevitable measure of ex- tremity. Mr. Garrison bases a forward- looking project upon a backward- looking method. He has the advan- THE GARRISON PLAN 517 tage of the lesson which the great democracy across the Atlantic has learned through a period of un- precedented national stress. He has neglected to apply that lesson to the needs of our own democracy. The records of the War department and the rosters of practically every National Guard unit in the country could have demonstrated to him the futility of attempting to organize an army of 500,000 men, or one-fifth of that number, upon the outworn basis of voluntary service in time of peace. Why court failure and lose valu- able time by essaying a project of vital national necessity on lines which have been conclusively proved to be impracticable? Why not take advantage of the experience of Great Britain and of the world ? — Dec. 11, 1915. THE DRIFTING CONTI- NENTAL PLAN II is evident that the administra- tion's continental army plan is rap- idly getting into the befuddled state that seems to be the fate of all of Mr. Wilson's policies. The Presi- dent changes his mind so frequently and on so many questions that Con- gress naturally has a hard time to keep in line with him. Yesterday he was for letting Mexico alone ; to- day he is for helping out Oarranza. Secretary Garrison and Assistant Secretary Breckenridge have made a stand upon the principle of national control. Nothing is so essential to an army as unity of purpose, and unity of purpose and action must originate from unity of control. The whole organization must be domi- nated equally by the same ideas and the same policies. This cannot re- sult from piecing together, no mat- ter how skill fully, forty-eight sepa- rate state units. The ) secretaries' resignations dramatize a great issue. Nothing seems to be settled in the President's mind. To-morrow's at- titude is to-morrow's secret. So with "preparedness"; so with a tariff commission board; so with practically every matter that in- volves the nation's interests in a large way. Sooner or later the Democrats in Congress wake up to learn from their President that "frankly, I have changed my mind," as he recently wrote majority leader Kitchin. Formulating a definite legislative programme under such conditions is much like forecasting weather prob- abilities for to-morrow. It is not surprising, in the circumstances, that the Democratic majority in Congress has to look to Mr. Kitchin, of North Carolina, for leadership on one feature of the Democratic pro- gramme ; to Mr. Rainey, of Illinois, on another, and on the greatest question of all to (heaven save the mark!) Mr. Mann, the Republican leader, who seems to be doing more for the President's "preparedness" policy just at present than any of the President's party followers. Into a chaos of this sort the con- tinental army plan) has been thrust, and it is having a hard time fighting for its life. Many Democratic Con- gressmen might be persuaded to give up their states' rights theory if they felt sure the President would "stay pat" on the present proposal; but with his wobbling record as a warning they are not inclined to take the chance. He can change his views, but they cannot change the roll call. The best step that can now be 518 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS taken, therefore, in preparation for national defense is not likely to be taken at this session of Congress. In time. Congress, of course, will have to recognize the wisdom and necessity of a national volunteer or- ganization. There can be only one authority over a military force, and that must be supreme over all. We are not going to build our defense against foreign invasion on state lines, nor delude ourselves into a feeling of security because we have a loosely organized "national guard" in the various states, officered, trained and controlled by state au- thority. Rather than have com- promises with state militia, the na- tional government would do better to wait until the real solution of the problem is apparent to every one, and an effective national army, re- sponsible solely to the authority of Washington, can be recruited. That is just about what is going to hap- pen.— Feb. 11. 1916. Universal Service THE NEED OF AMERICA IS UNIVERSAL SERVICE The assertion that under Secre- tary Garrison's Continental Army- plan the United States would have a reserve of 500,000 men within three years sounds well only to in- experienced ears. But those who know what difficulties lie in the way of recruiting under a voluntary sys- tem see anything but plain sailing ahead. Only the sight of the 500,- 000 actually under arms will make them believe that such a force can be raised under the suggested method of enlistment. Experience with the militia has indicated the harriers that loom be- tween the continental plan and its fulfillment. Extraordinary induce- ments are held out to young men to enlist in the national guard. The armories are splendid clubhouses. Many of them have swimming tanks, gymnasia and handsomely ap- pointed company rooms. The state has spent millions on the comfort of its guardsmen. Eor the man of ambition promo- tion from the ranks is rapid, and the work itself seldom interferes with his business duties. Encamp- ments and field maneuvers are of short duration and no more tiring than the activities of the usual sum- mer vacation. A man may choose his regiment, selecting an organization of which his friends are members or one in which he thinks the surroundings will be congenial. Thus some com- panies are filled with men from the same neighborhood, college or busi- ness house. Service of this kind is never irksome, and the methods of discipline are such that no man can possibly complain. In fact, the criti- cism that they are not strict enough is frequently heard. Yet in spite of all this there is not an infantry regiment in New York City with a full quota of men. Of- ficers have done everything in their power to stimulate recruiting with- out bringing their commands up to the full peace strength. In view of this condition is it strange that many find difficulty in believing the federal government can persuade 183,000 young men to join the color's voluntarily every year for the next three years? To be sure, federal service might appeal to many who remain cold to all over- tures from state organizations. Also, many college students might be will- ing to give two months of their sum- mer vacation to field maneuvers. The student camps already held in- dicate that the idea of military serv- ice is agreeable to the majority of American college youths. But the camps of the past have been consid- ered preparatory schools for volun- teer officers, and the students have enjoyed the status of cadets. In the ranks of the Continental Army they would occupy, when with the colors, 520 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS the same position as the private of regulars. The militiaman may easily obtain relief from his duties through a change of residence or through business necessity, but the Conti- nental soldier would be bound by stricter enlistment laws. He would enter into a much more serious agreement when he enlisted than the militia recruit, who merely con- tracts for defensive service or the suppression of internal strife. Like the militia plan, Mr. Garri- son's voluntary Continental Army is a half measure. It would place upon the few who are willing the burden of protecting those who are indifferent. If the organization of our new forces is to mark any real advance toward national prepared- ness against war, it must be accom- plished in a manner that will affect the whole nation. To every man must be brought the consciousness that his citizenship is a trust which he must prepare himself to defend. There must be a spiritual broaden- ing that will inspire all of us, rich and poor alike, to serve in the ca- pacit} r for which we are best fitted. The nation's call for men must not be the invitation of a friend; it must be the command of a kindly parent who has the right to expect a willing response. This means universal service, not only for those who are willing, but for those who must be trained to see their duty. It means not only the raising of an army of possible combatants, but the mobilization of an industrial force to back up the men in the field with the full power of the national reserves. The administration plan is weak because it merely makes a request of a few; it should call for the best efforts of all who are fit to serve. — Oct. 21, 1915. HERRICK FOR UNIVERSAL SERVICE There are few men who combine knowledge of America and Europe as Myron T. Herrick does. He knew this country, particularly the middle West, before he went abroad as ambassador to France, there to be a real diplomat. He was ousted from that post to make a place for an Ohio Democrat, and he came home and was hailed as a states- man who had won the admiration of most of Europe as well as of all of the United States. If further proof of Mr. Herrick's courage were necessary — fortu- nately it is not necessary — it would be furnished by the speech he made in Boston the other night, in which he said : By the course of events in Europe our complacency is somewhat disturbed. Our faith in the security of our isola- tion is becoming less implicit. We per- ceive rather clearly that our national existence is to be maintained and our safety as a people to be secured only by our own efforts. My observations in Europe have brought home to me most forcibly the great advantage, really the necessity, of some such system of uni- versal military service as prevails in France, Switzerland or other countries, adapted to our own conditions and citi- zenship and drawing impartially from all classes. It takes a man of courage to come out flatly for universal mili- tary service, particularly when that man has been told, as Herrick has been told, that there is a good chance for him to become President. The public mind automatically cou- ples universal military service with the words "compulsion" and "con- scription."— Dec. 13, 1915. UNIVERSAL SERVICE 521 IS PATRIOTISM OPTIONAL? Can a conscientious man fight for his country when he thinks she is wrong? There is a time for differ- ences of opinion. After the de- cision has been made then comes ac- tion. This demands unity, loyalty and patriotism. Private opinion may then be treason; for liberty, as op- posed to anarchy, is only reached by united action. How much liberty would there be if each cell in the body was free to obey or not obey the stimulus to act from the nerve centers? There would be only death for all. Pa- triotism is as necessary in a nation as is loyalty and obedience from the members of a football team. When a game is on the only thing for the players to do is to obey loyally, en- thusiastically. Then is not the time for debate of differences in judg- ment. It is not that the individual loses his individual rights; but in order that all individuals may develop and conserve their rights, there must be combination and unity. Anything else is anarchy, and under anarchy there are no rights. That is, if we individuals are to really conserve our rights, we must realize that the rights of all are greater than our individual rights, and therefore we must be willing to fight for the will of the whole. It is so with a nation. National policy — particularly foreign policy — after it is settled, demands and should cempel the devotion of every citizen. A man should no more question the right and wisdom of his country to ask for military service than he questions its right to ask for and take part of his property in the shape of taxes. This kind of patriotism should be taught to every citizen, to every boy and girl. In order to carry this out, every boy and every girl should be taught those principles which they should know in order to serve their country effectively. As long as war is possible, every citizen should be prepared for it. This means two things: (1) Fitness of each individual — boy and girl; and (2) special training of the sol- dier. Military training does not pro- duce good results before a boy is sixteen. Therefore, all children be- fore the age of sixteen should be given the training which will put them in the best condition for health and the development of power and hardihood. After sixteen, in addition, every boy should be trained as a soldier, for patriotism is not optional. Pa- triotism may demand fighting for one's country. Fighting for one's country involves a long preliminary training — and there is no better training for citizenship than is given in the school of the soldier. Peace and order are to be secured by force. Police give freedom. Po- lice lessen belligerency and render individual arms unnecessary. In- ternational police — which we are to have — will make national prepared- ness unnecessary, but .. unprepared- ness before international police have been developed is like throwing away one's defenses in a frontier town when the lawless are armed, ready and willing to murder. The world can win permanent peace and order only as they have been won in western frontier towns, by united, forceful action by the peaceful majority. Permanent peace and order are secured only by de- 522 THE GBAYEST 366 DAYS vel oping a powerful force which will enforce obedience to law. To disarm before that result has been accom- plished is to invite anarchy. All of us who wish peace and or- der must compel peace by force that will restrain the lawless. This method has been followed in our cities and states, through efficient court and police powers. Interna- tionally the problem presents two aspects. Tbe first is the suppression of piracy on the sea and brigandage on land, in the less highly organized regions of the earth, where effective government has not been developed. For the accomplishment of this ob- ject a small international force will suffice. The second aspect presents greater difficulties. The existence of mighty armaments is an outcome of the struggle that underlies all life. Na- tions change their status and their power and economic development with the current of time. Some na- tions remain stationary or decrease in numbers. Others, by reason of a high birthrate and a low rate of in- fant mortality, strain at their boun- daries and are forced to seek more elbow room. The flags that cover the map of the world do not weave into a mo- saic that is permanent and final. The development of humanity and its frontiers can never crystallize into right form. The apportion- ment of Europe that was decreed as a finality by the council of Jena a hundred years ago looks prepos- terous to us now. When the diplo- matists of Christendom undertook at succeeding international con- gresses — at Paris after the Crimean war, at Berlin after the Russo- Turkish war, at London after the first Balkan war, at Bucharest after the second Balkan war — to fix new delimitations of peoples, their man- dates were annulled unceremonious- ly by the ambitions or the vital im- pulses of nations. And all these changes, all these reversals of the ordinances of statesmen have been accomplished by the sword or by sea power. Unless we are willing to abandon our great policies, such as the Mon- roe Doctrine and the open door in China, we of the United States must develop an effective force, both on sea and on land, in order to hold our present position in the world and to further develop our influence. Until an internation has been de- veloped that will continuously ad- just boundaries and spheres of influence according to the vital ener- gies of the various nations, by sub- stituting the ballot for the bullet, battalions and naval power, not words, are needed to establish our position. National failure would narrow the life and scope of each individual citizen; hence the duty and the right of the state to call upon every individual for military service to make the °:roup strong. — Dec. 18, 1915. ATHLETIC NATIONS We consider ourselves the prem- ier athletic nation of the world. We win international matches in tennis, rowing, running. We look with a feeling of superiority upon the mis- guided German or Frenchman who knows no polo or golf. The truth is that they infinitely surpass us in the most valuable form of athletics, the art of being a soldier. Nearly every sound adult male is this type of athlete on tbe con- tinent. It is the sort of athletics UNIVERSAL SERVICE 523 to which they give up one, two or three solid years of their lives. It is a game whose playing means not selfish pleasure but readiness to serve and protect the country, the institutions, the women who are dear to us. Can any one point to a class of athletics in this country compar- ahle with military service in setting a man up physically and morally, in i miming him with the sense of team play and solidarity with his fellows? Military service on the continent is a major cause of the efficiency of in- dustrial work there, a major cause for the strong competition we have to meet. The shiftless, undisciplined English worker is now getting this same stern training; also the worker of Canada and Australia. Are we alone to lag behind? But the advantage to the in- dividual is a small part of the ar- gument for military service for all. Nothing else will make the country secure. Or do some of our fellow- countrymen think we could pit our college football teams, our cham- pions in tennis, golf and water polo, against the trained and disciplined arn iv and navv athletes from over- sea?— il/V/// 6, 1916. A UNIVERSAL SERVICE PLANK The Republican convention, apart from the work of nominating the man best fitted for the presidency, owes to the party and the country the paramount duty of making a strong and plain-spoken declaration on the vital subject of preparedness. Glittering generalities revolving about the word "Americanism" will not do. Neither will a flaccid ref- erence to preparedness. What the people want is a defi- nite, clean-cut pledge for the one form of preparedness which will mean something. That is, univer- sal and compulsory service as the basis of a national armament that will enable us to repel invasion without a preliminary display of in- efficiency such as that which made the Spanish war, in its initial stage at least, a demonstration of inca- pacity. Against such a specific declaration the pacifists within the party are making an energetic fight. Rather than commit the party to the' only definite plan which would meet the requirements, the pacifists are show- ing an unmistakable desire to set forth a mild inclination toward pre- paredness in gentle words which would have no meaning. If they should succeed in their designs of emasculating the cause they would play successfully into the hands of the enemies whose eyes may be di- rected at any time in the future toward the vast wealth of this unde- fended republic. What the rank and file of the Re- publican party want — and what the country demands — is a straight, un- equivocal declaration for compulsory universal service. That, and that alone, will solve the problem of our liberties and our honor as a nation. That, and that alone, will assure the position of this country in the front rank among the nations to which its extent, its industrial development and the wide scope of its interests entitle it. — June 6, 191G. MAKING THE BRITISH EMPIRE Now and then one has the good fortune to meet a Canadian soldier 524 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS back from the front and learn how this war is solidifying the British Empire. An Australian and a Canadian, on leave, start up the Strand for the Hotel Savoy. Before they are there, they gather i n a Scotchman and an empire man from Jamaica. At the Savoy an imperial lunch takes place. They are all getting to know and understand each other, a knowledge based on mutual service and sacri- fice for a common cause. Together they have met night attacks, watched the aeroplanes fighting overhead, hunted trench rats, fought for the new-made craters of mine explosions, or played football far back of the lines. They meet in London and talk of a new sort of British Empire. A tremendous impulse to national feeling is throbbing through every fighting nation in Europe. Xorth and south German are closer to- gether than ever before ; this war is completing what the Franco-Prus- sian began. The peoples of Russia are being thrown together by mil- lions on the east front. All the imperial conferences of all the ages would not have done for the British Empire what this war is doing. All the talk of Americanism, and all exhortation thereto, multi- plied by seven, will not do for us what a few years of practical Ameri- canism will do, a few years of uni- versal military service, of making all of us ready to defend the country that has done so much for us. — June 23, 1916. A SOLDIER'S FAMILY The present situation of our na- tional guardsmen at the front em- phasizes the injustice of this system of meeting the demands of national defense. These national guardsmen . enlisted in the militia for service in the borders of the United States. They were drafted into the federal forces for service abroad. They are held inactive on the Mexican bor- der, forbidden to perform the task for which they understood the}' were sent there. In the meantime many of their dependents are destitute at home, denied the pay promised by the guardsmen's former employers, and refused aid from the federal government. The guardsmen are feeling the rank injustice inherent in any vol- unteer system. It distributes un- equally the burdens of war. Equal- ity of sacrifice demands equality of service; that is, readiness by all to perform military service. Far from being an autocratic regulation, uni- versal military service is true de- mocracy. Our present volunteers — or conscripts — bear all the risk and inconvenience of service in the field. Their dependents bear all the home suffering due to restricted or disappearing family income. Both the non-volunteers and their families are quite free from any contribution but kind words. The national government has re- fused to do anything for guards- men's dependents. If the guards- men had crossed the border and en- listed in the American battalion of the Canadian army, both he and his famiv would be incomparably better off. He would be paid $1.10 per day by the Canadian govern- ment, while his family would re- ceive a separation allowance of $20 per month, $53 per month in all. In addition, the Canadian patriotic fund would allow his family so much per month for each dependent UNIVERSAL SERVICE 525 child. In the American battalion, enlisting for England, an American and his family are from four to five times better cared for than in the national guard, which now pays pri- vates $15 per month. No soliders in the European war are forced to worry about their wives and children as our guards- men are forced to worry. On Tues- day Senator Warren said at Wash- ington : The United States and Mexico are in accord on one subject, and that is in making no pi'ovision for the families of the soldiers who are in the field. Mr. President, that is a phase of accord that I do not want to see go on as between these two governments. I think we ought to follow the example of all the rest of the world on this subject. The national guard system has broken down, both from a military and a democratic viewpoint. Its democratic failings can be patched up by having the public treasury free from sacrifice the dependents of those who serve us. That re- lieves the inequality of sacrifice by women and children. Inequality of sacrifice among men can be relieved only by universal preparedness of all men to serve. And in no other way can we attain that military efficiency whose lack in the national guard has been wonderfully demonstrated in this border campaign. The administration has met the situation with its cutsomary indirec- tion. It has allowed guardsmen at the border to be excused if they could prove their dependents were in need. Pride long compelled the soldiers to stick it out. Now hun- dreds of appeals daily are reaching the War Department from depend- ents at home. The men are simply being forced to come back, and we shall soon see great gaps in every regiment on the border. — July 28, 1916. ROBERT BACON Robert Bacon, in his confession of faith as a candidate for the United States Senate, strikes a clear note regarding the greatest single issue that faces us. He says : I place my faith in the wisdom of the fathers of this country as expressed in the act of Congress of May 8, 1792, which imposed obligatory military train- ing and service upon the nation ; and I believe that Congress should immediately re-enact the principle of that law, which reads as follows : "Every able-bodied male citizen of the respective states, resi- dent therein, who is of the age of eighteen years and under the age of forty-five years shall be enrolled in the militia." This policy is not only right, just and necessary, but it is in accordance with the true spirit of democracy and of. equality. This is one of the first manly facings of the facts since we heard Roosevelt speaking out, loud and; strong, on that historic tour in the Middle West. Robert Bacon has spoken the words that are in the hearts of us all. He has immeasurably strength- ened his claim upon the considera- tion of his fellow citizens. — August 24, 1916. MILITARY SERVICE AND IN- DUSTRIAL CO-OPERATION Far-sighted men who love truth, more than they do ease are pro- claiming universal military service as the salvation of this country. At every turn they see how obstacles that baffle us would melt away if we were a nation of trained and dis- ciplined citizen soldiers. 526 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS Mexico is too much for the states- manship at Washington. So are Great Britain and Germany. Haiti and San Domingo are the two larg- est nations with whom our State de- partment feels itself able to deal on equal terms. While it is likely that this particular administration would have held to a timid and dishonor- able foreign policy under any cir- cumstances, still that tendency was strengthened by a feeling of the terrible military weakness of our country. Germany, Great Britain and Mexico would never have flouted us had we not been just as impotent as we talked. Neither the railroad nor the New York traction strike situation would ever have arisen had we been a na- tion of trained citizen soldiers. Soldiers who have sacrificed a year of their lives to serve in common their country could not take up arms against each other in industrial dis- putes without any honest attempt to compose their difficulties and with, no regard for the country or com- munity they are supposed to serve. If the men who are managers and those who are workers had served a democoratic year in the ranks to- gether, they would understand each other for all time. It would make forever impossible such chicanery as Mr. Shonts and Mr. Hedley ex- hibited in their attempt to destroy the effectiveness of the union which they nominally recognized. In the army ranks would be developed a spirit of co-operation, of mutual re- gard, of working to a common end, not separate ends. Controversies as to the shares of labor and capital, respectively, would take on more of the aspect of discussions between business partners. All* men would learn an ideal of joint service to a public, a country, that is greater than auy of them, or any group. It would no longer be morally possible for four railroad brotherhoods to threaten the industrial and private life of the country with death and destruction. The lesson of sacrifice is the les- son of individual life. The ability to sacrifice, to restrain self, is char- acter, in the man, in the group, and in the nation. And, strange as it might seem, the course of sacrifice is the most profitable one. We get by giving. Unselfishness is the highest, noblest — and most profitable — form of selfishness. Military service would transfuse men and managers, traction owners and traction workers, with the spirit of readiness to make in common the last great sacrifice, life itself, for something above and beyond their own petty aims, to protect their country. It would be the simplest matter for them to make the minor sacrifices of money and comfort nec- essary to give each other a square deal and together to work for the in- dustrial welfare of the country they stand ready to preserve. — Sejrt. 16, 1916. AN EXTRA SCHOOL YEAR Without any doubt the most de- mocratizing influence of our Ameri- can life is the public school. A common fund of childhood experi- ences, of school-taught principles and ideals is what, more than all else, has bound us together. So it was in the past. To-day we need something more than this. The ingredients of the melting pot are too bulky, too diverse to fuse into one homegeneous product in the brief years of compulsory education. UNIVERSAL SERVICE 527 Moreover, the children of those classes who possess capital, and so an advantage in the race for indus- trial leadership — these children tend to avoid the public schools. The youth of the country needs another year of compulsory school- ing together, another year of com- mon experiences and ideals. And the subject of this extra year will-be one that requires a severe discipline, a stern subordination to a purpose above and beyond the individual's petty aims, which will bind Ameri- can youths together in the bonds of united labor and sacrifice. The subject of this new year of school will be the study of arms, the learning of the art of being soldiers in their country's cause. Are we ready for this test of will- ingness to serve ? In us lies the hope of democracy and so of the whole world. History looks down upon us in this crisis. Shall it write that an- other great republic, grown rich and fat and great, chose the primrose path of luxury, softness and ease? Shall it be written that America, too, could not lift its eyes above its money bags and its platitudes of uni- versal peace, nor give one little year to prepare, to preserve what our. fathers and a gracious Providence bequeathed to our care? — Sept. 18, 1916. UNIVERSAL SERVICE There is no such democratic insti- tution as universal military service by the manhood of the nation. It levels rich and poor, all classes to- gether, and then raises them to the heights of common labor and com- mon sacrifice for their country. Its worth to the country is shown in war, but shown still more in peace. It is the path to the nationalization of America. Therefore, when a man like Robert Bacon, points to this path to nation- alization, it matters not what are his views on the merits of a war in which we are not involved. His is the way to give us success in any war in which we may become in- volved, quite against our will. True Americans will find that is more im- portant than a man's opinions on a foreign issue. To-day around Robert Bacon are rallying the forward-looking men who see in universal service and sac- rifice the solution of the problems that darken the future. Our enemy is less war than luxury and soft ease. We need the regeneration that a cen- tury of military service gave Ger- many and which is proving the bless- ing of this war to England. We can have this regeneration now voluntar- ily, or later have it forced upon us amid the sufferings that chance or fate brings to those who refuse to insure or prepare against a world- old calamity. Our voters find it unpleasant to lift themselves out of their selfish ease to render service to their na- tion. All honor and support to the statesman who has the vision and courage to stand for the truth of un- pleasant facts. — Sept. 19, 1916. A DEFEAT THAT IS REALLY VICTORY The only national issue involved in the Calder-Bacon rivalry for United States senator was the ques- tion of compulsory military service. >?s tAVEST m PAYS Ob all other dates on. On thai tlVV : 3 - geous . •■ ■ ■ stay s \ He Repul party. Mi pro Re- publican in ten believed in eompul- ■ Repul I wo ear ar mail Re- pul 3 S - StttT- Indeed, if he is :v; matter. he will have ta his rs? can 1 ss him des] cause. His was a triumph ttion, not ol principle. • whieh Mr. Ba had a most remarkable and - leant res] se from Republican ragh he had only a brief two weeks in which to present it. The few sai - leny him personally the fnll fruits of i torv. while u to be are not the basis . uad suit The 140,- s true test of the streng - use. They furv - minds of Repi stantiate in a m s ocing way Mr. Bacon's claim that his platfoi reflects the attitude of his v toward military service. History is replete with del that are really victories. The Bacon defeat is of that kind. — Sept 81, 191G. UNIVERSAL MILITARY SERVICE China does i in un sal mi - Maybe that's - I in ■ .; Ig as ] China s g< . ss iu : lack of na: > but suv - Chines* soon an - ►00,000 will be r s r a mainland people of 400,000,- 000. rapanese have a word equiv- sm. q a love s land • oa- sm ina is crumbling a is ing in power with far s Ui - unlit* s rvice not mean a militaris 1: ans a nation tn w •.:'.• spi aalis stilled into the heart of every oiti- It means better men physically. 1: means orderliness, system, a mult-: : things t) • ; world is I . re- rdless of the >• le Euro] pres last two years. Nations, like aals, quarrel and learn s and pass was out blood they spill and the suf- rings endure owing t elas': s To-day Herbert Asquith, premier of Great Britain, and von Bel mann-HoUweg, chancellor of Ger* many, look with much more sober view upon the groat questions that CJNIVERSAL SHi:\ [CB 520 brought on Hi«' appeal to arms. And how could it be otherwise, for they have made the great sacrifice. It may warm the heart of the British premier if, when the came of his son is culled, the response is like that made by all Frame for I a Tour d'Auvergne. '"Dead mi the field of honor." But it. will not. bring hack his (irsl born. Nor will anything bring hack the two sons of the German chancel- lor who gave their lives in the cause of the Fatherland. Bight princes of German foval houses have been killed in battle. There scarcely is a family of I he no- bility of Germany or England which is not in mourning. The tremendous tragedy must, calm t he brains and cool the blood of statesmen, rulers, people. II will be a better, a more tolerant and a less quarrelsome Europe. But Europe will not have less olj nationalism. It, will nol, know less of pal riot ism. It, will not become a group of Chinas. And neither must. America. — Sept. 21, 1916. The Navy $100,000,000 EACH FOR BER- MUDA AND JAMAICA The events of the last year have clearly demonstrated that America cannot dispense with a background of force on which to rest its influ- ence in the world. No matter how nohle our motives, no matter how just our appeal, it may not be heed- ed, as Mexico has demonstrated, un- less we are able and ready to back it up with military force. The navy must be our first line of defense. The naval strength of the nations depends partly upon geography as islands and strategic fortifications on frontiers, and partly upon its equipment of battleships, subma- rines and aeroplanes. Bermuda lies less than two days' steaming radius from New York city. From it as a starting point any Atlantic seaboard city can be reached. Used as a sub- marine base it would tie up our whole commerce with Europe and South America. If used by a hostile power and made the base for Zep- pelin raids New York city could be reached as London is reached to- day from Ltibeck on the continent. Its strategic value, if in our posses- sion and properly fortified, would make it weigh as heavily as twelve battleships and a fleet of submarines in our favor. Two hundred and fifty million dollars invested in na- val equipment involving tremendous upkeep charges would not give us so much added strength as Bermuda in our hands properly fortified. In the days of sailing vessels Ber- muda was so far off that it did not count in our coast defense. Theo- retical distances have remained the same. Engine-driven ships, subma- rines, aircraft have annihilated dis- tance. During the last generation, so far as its military importance is concerned, Bermuda has been moved so that to-day it stands at the very doors of our continent. Jamaica lies in the highway be- tween New York and Panama. American shipping must increase after the war. Our ocean-borne commerce must go in American bot- toms under the American flag, and it will need our protection. Every ship starting from an Atlantic sea- port for our western states, for South America, for the Orient, will need protection in passing through the Panama canal. Jamaica is stra- tegically the most important point to accomplish this end. If it should be seized by a hostile power or used against us with only a dozen sub- marines, it would prevent all access to the Panama canal. Twenty bat- tleships cannot give us the same ability for the protection of Panama that the possession and fortification of Jamaica alone would furnish. This is a time of readjustment. There are many grounds why we Americans feel that we have nothing to fear from England, and that the spiritual kinship of this country and England will make us safe for the future. Likewise, England can de- pend upon the permanent good in- THE NAVY 531 tentions of America. As a nation with 100,000,000 population, we need a larger influence in the world, and our political force should weigh more heavily. As strategic points for defense for the United States, these two islands will hecome in- comparably more valuable than they are at present. It is to the interest of both coun- tries that some arrangement for the sale of the sovereignty of these two points shall be made. England can well use the $200,000,000 that we can well afford to pay, and the whole Anglo-Saxon world would be richer if the exchange took place. The desire to exert our just in- fluence in the affairs of the world compels us to look to the strategy of geography to augment our de- fenses along those lines. This is the moment for our statesmanship to act, for it may help to solve difficult problems of international finance.— Sept. 23, 1915. SHALL WE ACCEPT SECOND PLACE? In the New York Times Maga- zine for December 5 Roland G. Usher presents the interesting in- quiry, "Does the United States Need Defense Against England?" He points out that it is essential to the preservation of her hegemony for Great Britain to rule the seas, that as long as England is England she will continue supreme upon the seas, but that Great Britain is the only great nation that dare not use her sea power for aggression, that she would never attack us ; on the con- trary, she would defend us. "If we needed defense at all we have depended upon England for it," he says, and points out that on the seas we could not cope with Germany's navy. He also says this : "She has been fair, just, and even magnanimous, to us for more than sixty years." Perhaps Mr. Usher thinks that when Confederate cruisers were built in British shipyards and fitted out by Britons to prey upon American commerce, for which voluntarily Great Britain afterward paid us an indemnity of -$15,500,000, that was "fair, just, and even magnanimous," but, as yet, American history does not so express it, nor have Ameri- cans, as yet, accustomed themselves so to consider it. Mr. Usher takes the ground that "so long as this condition prevails, so long as England remains mistress of the seas, the United States has nothing to fear from her, and we need no preparedness against her." His advice, therefore, is thus ex- pressed : Let us. therefore, do what we can to hold up her hands and maintain her po- sition, in the firm belief that we ai"e thereby advancing our own interests as definitely as possible. Early in 1862, when Lord Salis- bury (afterward prime minister of Great Britain) was speaking on the floor of the House of Commons, he said this : Every one who watches the current of history must know that the northern states of America never can be our true friends, for this simple reason : Not merely because the newspapers write at each other, or that there are prejudices on both sides, but because we are rivals — rivals politically, rivals commercially. We aspire to the same position. We both aspire to the government of the seas. We are both a manufacturing people, and in every port, as in every court, we are rivals to each other. 532 THE GRAYEST 366 DAYS Our manufactures far exceed our capacity at home to consume them. We must seek out. and find, and hold, and develop foreign markets for their absorption. Only with our own ships, under the control of our own nation and people, shall we be able to do this as we need to do it. Manifestly we cannot depend upon foreign ships, least of all England's, for this great need. Our industries must have foreign vent, or we must curtail production, which would be calamitous. We must go on. Go- ing on, we must compete with Great Britain as a commercial nation and as a maritime nation. In such a situation wisdom and foresight alike admonish us to depend wholly upon ourselves. — Dec. IS. 1915. THE PERIL Last night, at the dinner of the Sphinx Club at the Waldorf-Astoria, the Sphinx spoke and made prophe- cies. Col. Glenn, chief of staff of the eastern department of the army, stationed at Governor's Island, de- scribed our army as a "pathetic thing." What is more important, he told the direction from which our un- preparedness invited assault. This is what he said : Keep in mind that if we are involved in the Atlantic we shall be struck at the same time from the Pacific. It is Japan who will strike us from the Pacific. Who is her ally that will at the same time be attack- ing us from the Atlantic? There is only one such power. Japan has only one ally with whom we could possibly be involved, England. The speech of the eastern chief of staff recalls the haunting words of the President. At Kansas City, on February 2. speaking of the war, he said : If this flame begins to creep in on us it may. my fellow citizens, creep in upon uoth coasts, and there are thousands and thousands of miles of coast. The navy of the United States must now. as rapid- ly as possible, be brought to a state of efficiency and of numerical strength which will make it practically impreg- nable to the navies of the world. Does this fear explain our acqui- escence in the Japanese closure of the open door in China, our acqui- escence in the British rifling of our mails on the high seas, in the sup- pression of our food shipment for the German civilian population, and in their incidental stranding of our commerce with European neutrals? Is this the compelling emergency for which we must now feverishly prepare ? Then, in heaven's name, let it be stated in plain words and not in half-veiled references. It is the part of loyalty to make clear to the Amer- ican people a national peril of this magnitude. — March 15. 1916. FACTS VS. DREAMS Bear-Admiral Fiske's just pub- lished letter of Xovember 9, 191-1, is a frank, matter-of-fact summary of conditions by a man of large ex- perience and sound judgment. It is the earnest recommendation, made "respectfully but urgently," of an officer who felt deeply the delin- quencies of our navy, and who in the early period of the war clearly foresaw the menacing and vexatious incidents bound to occur and to in- volve this government more or less directly. The country will be amazed at the confession of Secretary of the Navy THE NAVY 533 Daniels that he did not know of the existence of this formal letter from his Aid for Operations until months afterward, and still more amazed, now that the letter has been made public, that he resisted until the last moment every effort to have its rec- ommendations made known to Con- gress. It will be difficult for Mr. Daniels to satisfy people that he is a com- petent head of the Navy department when the solemn warning of Novem- ber 9, 1914, by Admiral Fiske is contrasted with President Wilson's easy assurance to Congress three weeks later that we "should be ashamed of any thought of hos- tility or of fearful preparation for trouble." In the one case the man of ex- perience and of real information interpreted conditions with clear, prophetic vision; in the other case the man of no experience, and blind and deaf to real information, inter- preted conditions with all the un- reality of a dreamer. — April 25, 1916. Beach, commander of the Tennessee, to report an escapade which, had it occurred, would have furnished the basis of an international "incident." Another reason for maintaining an attitude of reserve is the testimony of Samuel Untermyer, who was a member of the McAdoo party, which arrived at Valparaiso two or three days after the time of the story printed by the Valparaiso newspaper, that he heard nothing of so gross a violation of the proprieties. But the best means for assuming that no such incident occurred is the well-established reputation of the officers' personnel of the United States navy for good behavior even under trying conditions. In view of these circumstances it will take a good deal more than the word of a Valparaiso newspaper to make the American people believe, not only that an American naval officer poured ice cream on the head of the admiral of the Chilean navy, but that he also threw his shoe at the statue of another hero of the Chilean navy. — June 1, 1916. AN UNBELIEVABLE STORY The Navy department, from Sec- retary Daniels down, may well re- gard with suspicion the story pub- lished by a Valparaiso newspaper that an officer of the battleship Ten- nessee, at a public dinner in the Chilean city, poured ice cream on the head of the admiral of the Chilean navy. There are many reasons why this extraordinary charge against the manners of an American naval offi- cer should be treated with extreme reserve by his countrymen. One reason for doubting the veracity of the tale is the failure of Capt. OUR FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE The lessons of the battle of Skag- errak have not been lost on the Senate committee on naval affairs. That body, with an assumption of initiative which does it credit, has recommended the construction of a real navy within a period of three years. In this last detail the com- mittee has exceeded the recommen- dations of the naval board, which contemplated a more modest build- ing programme extended over a pe- riod of five years. Admiral Dewey in a notable ar- 531 THE GBAVEST 366 DAYS tide thus summarizes the impor- tance of battleships as demonstrated by the greatest naval battle in his- tory : The battle of Skagerrak seems to have justified the position which has long been taken by the experts of the general board of the American navy, a position which has met the approval of most American authorities and which has been crys- tallized into the programme which Amer- ica has followed. The general board has recommended for fifteen years that the United States continue the policy of placing its chief reliance in big ships. Since the dreadnought came into being that body has maintained that that ves- sel should be made the backbone of the fleet. In harmony with the expert opin- ion of America's premier naval com- mander, the Senate committee has completely reversed the original pro-' gramme of the House committee, which provided for the construction of five battle cruisers and no battle- ships, and recommends the construc- tion of ten battleships within the specified period of three years. At the same time it has not ignored the value of the battle cruiser with its higher speed and its greater power of mobility. Inasmuch as this type of ship has played a promi- nent part in the British naval pro- gramme for the past few years, the committee makes provision for the addition of six battle cruisers to our navy within the same period of three years. Profiting again from the brilliant record made by the destroyers in the struggle off Jutland, the Sen- ate committee recommends the con- struction of no less than fifty of this type of vessel ; and in recog- nition of the great efficiency which has been developed by both German and British submarines in this war, the committee contemplates the ad- dition of fifty-eight coast submarines to our navy. This programme would indicate that the Senate committee is mak- ing a serious endeavor to strengthen our notoriouslv weak first line of defense.— July 3, 1916. LA FOLLETTE'S FOREIGN POLICY Strange and wonderful are the ways of the irreconcilable pacifists. The summit of their achievements was reached last week when Senator La Follette found himself placed in the position of advocating that we should use our enlarged navy to protect citizens of all nations but our own. La Follette introduced an amend- ment to the navy appropriation bill. In its final ripe form it read : Provided, that no battleship, battle cruiser, scout cruiser, torpedo boat de- stroyer or submarine herein appropriated for shall be employed in any manner to coerce or compel the collection of any pecuniary claim of any kind, class or nature, or to enforce any claim of right to any grant or concession for or on be- half of any private citizen, copartnership or corporation of the United States. The amendment aimed to leave our citizens to go abroad to spread our foreign trade, absolutely at the mercy of such justice as they could get at the hands of the local govern- ments of semi-civilized countries, whenever these countries should fall into a state of anarchy and the property of Americans be taken. Indeed, this notice that we should do nothing to protect our citizens would serve as an invitation to rob them. Senator Lewis pointed out that such a policy involved the abandon- THE NAVY 535 merit of the Monroe doctrine. For, he explained, European governments did not share our strange theories as to the abandonment of our citi- zens. If we did not protect their citizens in their lawful rights in countries on this hemisphere, where the civil power had disintegrated into anarchy, then the European governments would send their own military power into those countries to hring them to their senses. Such action would he a violation of the Monroe doctrine. That is, Senator Lewis reminded the Senate of the fact that no inter- national rights are without their obligations. If we order European countries to keep out of South Amer- ica and Mexico, we must engage ourselves to preserve some sort of order there. La Follette had the answer. He said that nothing in his amendment prevented us from protecting the citizens of foreign countries. When I bring to the senator's atten- tion the fact that this amendment re- lates to no investment made by any foreign citizen, syndicate, corporation or copartnership he will see that the criti- cism that he is making cannot have ap- plication. It is limited only to a prohi- bition against using the vessels provided by the appropriation in this bill to col- lect the claims of our own citizens, so that the question of the Monroe doctrine can under no circumstances be raised by my amendment. That is, we were to spend over $500,000,000 for naval construction to protect the property rights of citizens of other nations, while ex- pressly promising not to protect the property rights of our own citizens. With the issue so clearly drawn, the Senate defeated La Follette's amendment 42 to 8. It was an in- teresting and instructive occurrence. It is too bad that the practical work- ing of more of the doctrines of the ultra-pacifist dreamers cannot be thus exposed. — July 25, 1916. AMERICA NEEDS THE DAN- ISH WEST INDIES Foresight is better than hind- sight. The purchase of Alaska in 1867 for the paltry sum of $7,200,- 000 in gold was a piece of foresight for which America lias ample rea- son to be grateful. The failure to purchase the Danish West Indies now will prove a costly cause for regretful hindsight ten years from now. America needs the West Indies. The islands lie on the main route to and from South America. The lion's share of that trade belongs geographically and economically to the United States. For the pur- poses of a coaling and cable station, a sort of halfway house between New York and the mouth of the Panama canal, the island of St. Thomas is ideal. Denmark is will- ing to sell. The legitimate commer- cial and political interests of this country make the purchase of the Danish possession imperative at this time. We should seek, on every con- sideration, to prevent some strong foreign power, like Germany, from establishing itself in our back yard. To permit such a peaceful penetra- tion, whether by Germany or some other power, would create problems which America might have ample cause to regret in the future. Not only the Danish West Indies, but several of the British island possessions strung out along the sea route between the two Americas, 536 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS should be acquired by the United States in the fulfillment of its mani- fest destiny as the upbuilder of South America. And among these possessions Bermuda stands out as the base of great advantage or pos- sible menace to American interests. Jamaica, within easy striking dis- tance of the Panama canal, is an- other British island which, logically and as a matter of simplest measure of procaution, should be placed un- der the American flag by friendly purchase. The great war has shown the tran- scendent strategic value of straits and of lands dominating waterways. By her control of the Suez canal Britain is able to maintain her un- obstructed sea road to India against the assaults of her enemies. The little rock town of Aden is the key to the Red Sea. The frowning cliff of Gibraltar is the sentinel that guards the gate of the Mediterra- nean. By her fortunate possession of the sandspit of Heligoland, ac- quired through an unprecedented fluke of fortune, Germany is able to interpose a barrier of steel and fire between the mouth of the Kiel canal and the might of England's navy. It would be suicidal for America, on the threshold of her great com- mercial expansion in South America, to suffer a Heligoland, or a Gibral- tar, or an Aden to be erected by her rivals at the mouth of her Suez. The purchase of the Danish West Indies would be of hardly greater advantage to the United States than to the people of the islands them- selves. One reason why Denmark is prepared to sell the islands is because, through the operations of tariffs and of the inexorable laws of supply and demand, the people who inhabit them are vainly struggling against economic ruin. Under the American flag the people of St. Thomas aud of St. John, under the operation of the same laws, would wax prosperous. What is true of economic condi- tions in the Danish West Indies is equally true of Bermuda and of Ja- maica. Like the people of the Dan- ish West Indies, the inhabitants of Bermuda and Jamaica would find in annexation to the United States a prompt and effective cure for their economic distress Altruistic as well as selfish rea- sons, then, press upon America the duty of availing herself of the pres- ent opportunity to extend her do- minion of the Danish West Indies. And the purchase of these islands should be the first step in a fixed and continuing policy which shall gradually eliminate European na- tions from the command of our sea- ways. Such a policy would constitute im- perialism only in the same sense as the purchase of Alaska was an im- perialistic step. Clearing away the opportunities for hostile naval sta- tions on our road to South America would be an indispensable adjunct to our future naval development. — July 25, 1916. Industrial Preparedness in General GUNS AND THE MEN BEHIND THEM Every thoughtful American who can see the effect of recent events in the relations of nations recog- nizes that our programme of de- fense must be strong and deter- mined. Our navy must be strength- ened, our army developed, or there is disaster ahead. The events of the last fifteen months leave no room for doubt or hesitation. Force cannot be dispensed with in inter- national relations. No movement, no political issue is the equal of this in importance. Already the administration does well in its attempt to meet the pub- lic demand, but in the suddenness with which the issue has arisen there lies grave danger. We need a complete and far- reaching organization of all the en- ergies of our people so as to make them valuable in time of war. Such an organization must comprise our whole able-bodied citizenry because wars are no longer fought with a thin fringe of men on the firing line. Back of every soldier on the battle front there are three men engaged on the railroads, in industries and on the farms, sup- porting by their industrial energy those who are actually fighting. A soldier requires not only physical hardiness, courage and discipline that enable him to co-operate en masse and make him responsive to direction, but also special skill for the use of tools of modern warfare and its complicated machinery. We must have the complete mo- bilization of every corporation and railroad. All these interests must work with precision and in abso- lute harmony if the full industrial energy of the nation is to come into play. War creates new tasks for agriculture, for science, for hos- pitals and medicine. Preparedness, in short, requires a new form of national organization permeating the whole body politic. Years of the most patient and most ener- getic effort and the ablest organ- izing minds that our people can pro- duce will be needed to build this vast and complex human machine. Highly trained and specialized bodies of officers and experts must be developed who are versed, not only in the technical devices of war- fare but also in the art of drilling and developing men. The military officer's function is broad and he must be, among many other things, a skillful teacher and sanitary ex- pert. The task of bringing to a common focus the energies of the United States has never been at- tempted on the scale now de- manded. How are we meeting this situa- tion? The proposal to spend $400,- 000,000 in battleships and machin- ery will not solve our problems. This plan has been seized upon by political leaders with eagerness, 538 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS but it will not make us safe. Much more than a vast aggregation of battleships and solid reserve sup- plies of cannon are needed. These material things are but incidental ; the real need is for a living organ- ism that must be built of men, and it takes longer to create such an organization than to produce the tools with which it will work. Large appropriations of money for ships and cannon are finding favor with political leaders because it is easier to convince a citizen to pay a few dollars of taxes than to get him to see. his duty to his coun- try by submitting personally to the discomfort and effort involved in military training. Then, too, there is a very definite commercial stim- ulus on the part of those who would manufacture the equipment re- quired which tends to develop our energies in this direction. The Wall Street Journal of Oc- tober 15 paints a seductive picture of the vast profits to be realized in meeting this demand for prepared- ness. 1 1 says : New Naval Programme to be a Help to Many Companies Chief Beneficiaries Include Bethlehem Steel, Crucible Steel and Submarine Boat Corporation — Carnegie Plant of United States Steel and Midvale Com- pany in Line for Big Armor Plate Contracts — Battleships. There is more business ahead of American manufacturers of battleships, cruisers, submarines and naval equip- ment, and ordnance than ever before in the history of the country, provided the tentative programme for naval defense, as now contemplated by the administra- tion in Washington, is carried through. That programme calls for the expendi- ture of .$400,000,000 in the next few years, and for an estimated outlay of close to $250,000,000 in the next year, the latter an increase of $100,000,000 over last year. This country's prospective enormous defense fund is one of the chief factors leading to the recent industrial expan- sion which has. been especially noted in the companies that directly profit in naval construction orders. This large volume of work which now seems assured because of the general belief that the United States should have an adequate defense, will supplement large foreign war orders for shells and ordnance gen- erally which have been placed during the past year. Nothing can be more dangerous, for our problem of preparedness cannot be solved by an appropria- tion of money to be spent upon iron, steel, copper or other ma- terial equipment. Speculation in war stocks with the wildly exag- gerated reports of profits in the munition business may endanger the whole movement for adequate national defense and check the willingness of the American voter to face the grave international is- sues that confront him. Nothing would hill such a programme in a political campaign more quickly than the conviction that it was be- ing furthered largely in the inter- ests of equipment companies. The United States needs a well co-ordinated industrial organiza- tion to produce the materials of war. No nation has ever made in a decade such great steps toward preparedness as has the United States during the past fifteen months. The grouping under one management of interest, the co- ordinating of industrial plants that can be turned to the production of war supplies of all sorts is to be advantage of the country. We need to have large capital and intelli- gent and alert management to pur- INDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS IN GENERAL 539 sue consistently the problems in- volved. Private and corporate initiative in this field are rendering national service of the first order, but recog- nition of this fact must not lead us to conclude that the production of equipment is the main issue. It is not. The military efficiency of Ger- many and France lies in organiza- tion that runs back in unbroken threads to the time of Napoleon. The names of battleships such as the Moltke, the Schamhorst and the Bouvet are material evidences to- day of the spirit which generations ago went into the armies and navies of those countries. Let us recog- nize that our first and greatest problem is to create the spirit and the personnel — the organization. We need some equipment immedi- ately, but that is only a minor part of the task confronting us. — Oct. 19, 1915. MOBILIZATION OF RESOURCES War is a contest of technical skill rather than a struggle between masses of men. The nation that possesses the highest mechanical equipment is the nation that is best equipped to achieve triumph on the battlefield in defense of its rights, and perhaps of its very existence. The superiority of the machine over the man in warfare was made evi- dent as early in the history of the world as the wars of Caesar in Gaul. In one of his accounts of his many victories, the great conqueror ascribes the turning of the fortunes of war to the superior temper of the Roman hasta, or short sword, as compared with the weapons of the enemy. To-day more than ever has vic- tory attended the machine rather than the battalion. The forty-two centimeter gun was the element that gave to Germany her aston- ishing preponderance over her ene- mies in the first phase of the pres- ent struggle. Thus it was the work of the inventor and the manufac- turer, rather than that of the sol- dier, that won battles for the Ger- mans in the first clash of forces. Under any such conditions of war- fare, America, by reason of her in- ventive genius, is bound to excel in the power to defend her liberties. But inventive genius without or- ganization is not qualified to stand the supreme test in time of crisis. Experience has shown that in America private enterprises are far more efficient in doing their work than governmental agencies. The corporations, in far higher degree than the government, possess the human and material resources for the manufacture of mighty weapons of defense like the forty-two centi- meter guns. These corporations, and their wealth of equipment constantly im- proved by the keenest minds and the most alert enterprise available in the country, must be mobilized for use in war as an adjunct to the government. With this end in view, the government must enlist among its defensive resources the indus- trial giants of the land — its Rocke- fellers, its Fords and its Schwabs. It must give to the corporations the opportunity of making legitimate — not excessive, but legitimate — profits in time of peace, in order that it might avail itself of their vast and highly perfected machin- ery of invention and production in time of war. 540 THE GKAVEST 366 DAYS On the other hand, the corpora- tions must give the government the first opportunity of acquiring their inventions and their powers of pro- duction — in time of peace. In time of war their machinery, human and material, must automatically be- come an integral part of the re- sources of the government. By this method of industrial mo- bilization will the country be best able to meet the requirements of modern warfare — a warfare between engineers, inventors and manufac- turers, rather than between masses of men, no matter how patriotic or how highlv efficient individually. — Nov. 4, 1915. A NITRATE FAMINE For nitrates, which are neces- sary for making explosives, we are wholly dependent upon Chile, 3,000 miles away over the sea. Our navy is inferior to Great Britain, prob- ably now to Germany, in view of her vast additions during the war period. Either of these nations, if at war with us, could close the seas and destroy our production of explosives. No step in preparedness is more necessary than to guard the nitrate supply. There are three ways to do it. First, we can build a navy superior to any in the world. Even if we appropriated an unlimited amount for new construction, this end could not be attained within ten years, unless other nations in the meantime stopped their con- struction, and of this there is no sign. We have not now a ship- building industry capable of the task. It must be created. And we cannot neglect the nitrate supply for ten years. Second, the government might buy from Chile and store in this country nitrates to last for a long war, say five years. We say "might." Ships are not available in the world for such huge carry- ings. After the war the demand for ships to carry reconstruction material will be vast and ocean rates high. Chile nitrates will be costly beyond all precedent, sought for as fertilizers for the depleted European agriculture and by the arms factories of all the world, engaged in restocking national ar- senals. But by bidding without limit for ships and nitrates we could con- ceivably in two years accumulate a stock that would safeguard us. But what of our security during these two years? The third way is an immediate government-owned plant to extract nitrates from the air or a govern- ment subsidy for such a private industry. The government plant for many reasons is better. Pro- vision for it is included in the pend- ing bill of the House naval com- mittee. It should be authorized and constructed with no delay. When this war began, England cut Germany's supply of Chile nitrate. The expectation was that Germany would soon run out of ex- plosives. In May, 1915, Sir John French told the Havas News Agency that the Germans were getting chary of shells "because the failing supply of nitrates necessary for high explosives is making itself felt in Germany." Sir John was wrong. German shells in the next few months "sprayed" Przemysl and tore Hill 60 on the west. To-day they are blasting the French out of Verdun. The reason is simple. In peace, INDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS IN GENERAL 541 with British sea power in view, the Germans had developed in Norway the process of taking nitrogen from the air. When the war broke out, they transferred the process to five new German factories, which are now supplying all needs both of the military and of agriculture. There is no end of air, and so no limit to nitrates and explosives. Until our sea power is invincible — that is, for the next ten years at least — our defense must look to the methods of that nation which was itself confronted by superior sea power. And so the Naval Consult- ing Board and the navy turn to the example of Germany in guarding its home supply of nitrates. — March 20, 1916. THE POWER OF ORGANIZA- TION In an earnest plea for prepared- ness, Thomas A. Edison makes the following discouraging statement : The trouble with us is that we are not good organizers, and I don't know that we ever will be. Our government is composed of all kinds of representatives, and it is very difficult to make the ma- jority agree upon anything. The second sentence in this state- ment furnishes a complete answer to the first. History offers no parallel to the wonderful organization which has been built up in less than a lifetime by that characteristically American enterprise, the Standard Oil Com- pany. Extending its field of opera- tions from a local to a national scope, the Standard Oil has reached out beyond the seas and overspread the world. In China, the American corporation has been for years one of the strongest factors in the peaceful development of the coun- try. In Roumania, in Russia, in the Near East and Asia Minor the Standard Oil can is one of the fa- miliar objects of domestic economy. Unlike the Hudson Bay Company and the East India Company, which represent the nearest approach to the commercial activities of the American corporation, Standard Oil has not commanded the services of armies, nor has it carried fire and sword into the dark places. It has built up its vast business on a com- mercial basis by entrusting its af- fairs to experts and by the continu- ance of a definite policy directed at the accomplishment of definite ends. The conduct of our national af- fairs offers a sharp contrast to this model of efficiency: As Mr. Edison points out, our government is com- posed of "all kinds of representa- tives." Very few, if any, of these are experts. Very few, if any, hold office long enough to make them- selves thoroughly familiar with the duties which the nation — or rather the party in power — has entrusted to them. With the advent of every party to power comes a more or less complete change in policy and in personnel. That which has been builded in one administration is de- stroyed by its successor. It is also true, as Mr. Edison points out, that "it is very difficult to make the majority agree on any- thing." The progress of the army bill through Congress plainly illus- trates that truth. But it does not appear to be difficult to obtain unity of action in the Standard Oil di- rectorate. That is because the Standard Oil directorate is a con- tinuing body of experts — a group- mind, so to speak — which if 542 THE GRAVEST 366. DAYS changed at all by the stockholders is only partlv changed at any time. The great majority of that group of a score of men remain always in command of the activities of the corporation. And the result of this permanence of personnel is a permanence in policy and in achieve- ments. In our national life a widely dif- ferent state of affairs is presented. The national board of directors — if the term may be used for the sake of convenience — is made up, not of a score of ' men but of a hundred score. Such a body is incapable of united or prompt action. Every member of Congress, to mention only a part of this unwieldy national directory, has to have his say, either for constructive purposes or for the benefit of the home constituency. In the multiplicity of counsels is discord, and error, and delay and incapacity for continuous action. The American people have proved, in the course of their brilliant in- dustrial and commercial develop- ment, that they possess the high- est power of organization in the world. In their political life they have betrayed the lowest power of organization in the world. Why this appalling difference? Because America has not applied to its national life the lessons which it has so thoroughly learned in its business life. — March 22, 1916. THE MISSING BALANCE WHEEL For some days shippers, railroads and Interstate Commerce Commis- sion have been sitting together in Washington trying to devise a way out of the congestion of freight upon our railroads and especially at the seaports. The transportation machine has broken down under the load imposed upon it. This is partly due to the insuffi- cieney of railroad facilities. Dou- ble tracking,' terminals, yards and equipment have hardly been in- creased since the panic of 1907, for since tbose days the roads have been through a financial famine. To-day they are in the midst of a feast, but the equipment and construction companies cannot extend the rail- roads fast enough to meet the sit- uation that has been on the way to overwhelm them all through the last nine years. So it is always with business in this country. It is a feast or a famine. A year ago a New York citizens' committee was planning how to meet the unemployment problem. To-day business men are figuring how they will meet foreign competition in international mar- kets after the war with American industries carrying the unexampled wages forced by the frantic bids of prosperous business. Nor is it a war-time phenomenon. The balance wheel in the industrial machine is lacking. In 1907 we had a feast and starved through years of reaction. There is no pro vi lege in modern social life that does not carry with it a corresponding duty. Do the leaders in American industrial life see that the privilege and power to direct industry, the power of con- centrated finance, carries with it a responsibility ? The American industrial system is complex and far-reaching. Its development requires vision and foresight. It cannot be left to the INDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS IN GENERAL 543 chances of a hand-to-mouth policy. —March 30, 1916. VERDUN AND VILLA An American business man who has just returned from Europe after visiting his branch factories in Bel- gium. France and Germany, sums up the struggle for Verdun as follows : It is not a battle ; it is not a matter of brave charges undertaken by courageous men. It is an engineering feat. The greatest engineering feat that ever has been attempted in history is in progress. A mountain of forts is being assaulted. Shells filled with explosives, shrapnel shells, huge howitzer shells, are but de- tails of the undertaking. The assault is not being made with men. It is a vast engineering enterprise carried on with machinery, just as a modern factory turns out its product, not by hand labor but by machinery. The quantities of ammunition have been calculated in units of 100.000 tons. The totals will reach a million tons. To transport this vast material railroads have been built and macadam roads laid in parallel courses over each strip of territory to be trav- ersed, over each square mile of new land conquered. A whole nation has set it- self to the completion of an engineering feat with the aid of modern science, modern machinery and vast forces of men organized by the aid of the tele- phone and telegraph into the most per- fect working mechanism of men and ma- chines that can be created. What is true of the German oper- ations is equally true of the French. Like the Germans, the French are carrying on a vast engineering cam- paign, with machinery, railroad con- struction and artillery of enormous range and power as the main im- plements of warfare, operated by many thousands of brave men. We too have a war — though a "little war 7 — on our hands. Con- pared with the scale of fighting at Verdun our operations against Villa are insignificant. The Germans re- port that 36,000 French prisoners have been taken at Verdun to date — a. number almost equal to our entire mobile army. The losses on both sides run far beyond 100,000 men, or more men than America has under arms for all purposes. But the equipment and material efficiency of both the German and the French armies at Verdun fur- nish an interesting basis for com- parison with the equipment and ma- terial effectiveness of our own ex- pedition "somewhere in Mexico." More than 300 aeroplanes are in use on either side at Verdun, and the observations of the aviators have played an important part in the defense as well as the offense. We had six aeroplanes at the border when the trouble broke out, and two of them have been wrecked, while the remaining four are not work- ing satisfactorily enough for long flights, such as are necessary in the pursuit far into the interior of Mexico. At Verdun the artillery on both sides has done all that was required of it, without a hitch or a break- down. In Columbus, when Villa made his murderous raid, the losses to our soldiers were swelled by the fact that one of the machine guns failed to work. This weapon had been condemned as far back as the Cuban campaign — and was included in the equipment of a part of the American army which had been sent south on the assumption that its services might be needed at any time. At Verdun the problem of food and supplies has been solved by the creation and maintenance of a com- missariat on wheels such as the world never saw before. "Some- 544 THE GBAVEST 366 DAYS where in Mexico" our soldiers are compelled to subsist on parched corn and to resort to the native hide sandals to replace worn-out shoes because their supplies cannot be transported in time to keep up with the moving columns. At Yerdun every shortage of any sort is quickly made good by the operation of a vast network of rail- way feeders. In Mexico the move- ment of our cavalry is badly ham- pered by the lack of remounts, which cannot be forwarded to the "front" in time because Carranza declines to gives us the full use of the Mexican railways. And while all these things are go- ing on Washington is trying to de- cide, not how these serious defects in our war organization can be most quickly remedied, but whether Con- gress, the War department or the commanding officers are responsible for a situation disheartening in the extreme and ominous of future dis- aster when this country shall have a real, and not a "little," war on its hands. — April 14, 1916. AMERICA From England comes the state- ment on official authority that "Charlie" Chaplin is no less a pa- triot than the man in the trenches. Mr. Chaplin gets vast sums for do- ing ridiculous things that make peo- ple laugh, and as a loyal Britisher he is investing his immense earn- ings in British bonds, thereby help- ing to maintain sterling exchange. No doubt Italy considers Enrico Caruso no less a patriot than Eng- land deems Mr. Chaplin. Signior Caruso sings for Americans and gets and takes back to Italy enough money to pay for possibly a quarter or a half million bushels of wheat. America needs some patriots. It needs patriots who will plan to put back into the soil that of which the earth was robbed when the quarter or half million bushels of wheat that represent Caruso's high notes were grown. It wants patriots who will restore the farm lands of Amer- ica to a state of fertility that will mean forty bushels of wheat to the acre as were produced when the land was rich, instead of from thirteen to fifteen bushels to the acre as is the average now that the land has been made comparatively poor. We cannot impoverish our great- est heritage, the soil, without disas- trous consequence. We must put back into the land food, nourish- ment in place of what we take from it. When this is done the reward is great. But it takes time, money and intelligence. America needs some patriots in its banks, its manufactories, its cor- porations — men who think and act for their nation in the spirit of Caruso and Chaplin. It needs men who think first of the nation and who are free from corporation strings or petty ambitions. It needs big men to think for and serve it, to organize and energize its work even to that of safeguarding the farm. Abuse of the soil is folly. The waste, the loss resultant from this one act of national omission is immense. It cries out for correc- tion, vet it goes without correction. —Sept 13, 1916. Manufacturing Preparedness OUR OWN ESSENS "The Bethlehem plant could turn out for this country 50 per cent, more arms and ammunition than the Krupp works in Germany." — Charles M. Schwab. "If we could reach Essen," has been the sigh of the allies, "it would end the war." It is very likely that it would end the war. The smashing of the Krupp works would be a blow too smashing for Germany to withstand. But aside from one or two futile aeroplane raids that have been re- ported, Essen has not been reached. Fifty miles from the nearest fron- tiers — and these are the frontiers of neutral Holland and captured Bel- gium — Essen seems in no immediate danger. But how about our American Es- sens? Have they been as carefully placed as Essen, with the possibil- ity of an invasion of this country in mind? The Krupp works are not government owned, because in Ger- many the state does not take up work that can be done better by a corporation, but the government has kept as closely in touch with the manufacture of ammunition as if it owned the plants. The great ammunition plants of the United States are not govern- ment owned. Most of them are owned by corporations which are more efficient than the government itself. But the munitions plants, old and new, appear to have been placed for the immediate conven- ience and profit of the owners, and with little thought of the possible needs of the nation in the event of war. There are so many opinions as to what an invader could accomplish in America that a discussion of the subject is more interesting than use- ful. Your student of strategy will tell you that an invader would first strike at the north shore of Long Island Sound, with a view to cut- ting off New England. We have three or four towns that are de- scribed as "American Essens," and, curiously enough, two of them are on the north shore of the sound. With no desire of frightening the folks of Bridgeport and New Haven, we wonder what plans our army ex- perts have made about them. The munitions plants in these cities are great resources to America. Since the war they have been almost dou- bled in size, not by putting up flim- sy buildings, but by adding modern structures filled with modern equip- ment. These Connecticut manufac- turers evidently believe that the stocking-up process of Europe after the war will keep their shops busy for years; nor is it likely that they left the arming of America out of their considerations. If New England cannot be in- vaded, if Long Island Sound is im- pregnable, well and good. But if our defense experts are not certain 546 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS about it, what is the government do- ing to protect these huge plants? Obviously their machinery would have to be moved at the first sign of danger. Another group of powder and munitions plants lies farther south, along the Delaware river, in the Wilmington region. Many of these have been slapped together for pres- ent war purposes only. To reach them an invader needs to cross New Jersey. How large or small that task would be we must leave to the war sharps. The point we wish to .make is that most of our ammuni- tion industry is near — perilously near, perhaps — the Atlantic sea- board. This has helped the manu- facturers in making quick ship- ments and in getting labor. But it has not helped the defenses of the United States. If the munitions plants were near the center of the country there would be little to worry about them. Chicago would be a point where workmen could be mobilized as eas- ily as they are in New England. There are many places in the South, as Col. Roosevelt has suggested, where ammunition plants would be safe. Another point. Suppose the Eu- ropean war ends without embroiling this country, what will be the fate of the munitions plants that have been built solely to meet the pres- ent large demand? We do not mean the flimsy, foul, disease-breed- ing boom towns along the Delaware river. They will be abandoned as soon as the present demand ceases, unless they meet the fate of Hope- well first. But there are huge plants, full of valuable machinery, like Bethlehem. There are plants in Connecticut which could not be operated in their entirety if Europe found that she had no money with which to stock up anew. The loca- tions of these plants may not suit the government, but they are full of modern machinery for the pro- duction of the very things that this country will need in a hurry if we get into a war. It would be wild waste to scrap these plants because their owners could sell nothing more to Europe. If the men whose capital and leadership has built up the muni- tions industry had taken thought "of America's interests as well as of their own and had put the plants at strategical points of national de- fense, they could with justice ask the government to co-operate with them in saving their capital values after the war. And, on the other hand, if the government had shown intelligence and initiative in advis- ing with the munitions industry as to the locations selected, our defensive system could have been strength- ened immensely at no cost to the public. If great values are to be created in this and other lines, the government and business men must not antagonize each other, but must work hand in hand. America is learning for the first time how to make arms on a huge scale. England has had to learn the trade, and it took the pressure of war and the whip of Lloyd George to make her do it. Japan, making munitions for Russia, is making them not to favor Russia but to put herself — not her munition magnates — in condition for the future. If the United States does not learn her lesson and take advantage of it she is a nation of folly. She is being paid for going to school ! — Feb. 17, 1916. MANUFACTURING PEEPAEEDNESS 547 EVERYBODY'S BUSINESS- WAR War, in the early stages of civil- ization, was a business about on a plane with railroad gangs. The mercenary captain of mercenaries was at the hire of him who needed temporary help, just as the padrone with his crew of laborers is ready to serve the corporation. There was no combination of military interests until the Crusades, and even then the various groups of warriors re- tained their separate feudal form. It was not until the day of the French revolution that the French people came to realize that a whole nation must go to arms to meet a foe. It was not until the present war that Europe came to know that a nation needs not only the help of the men eligible for service in the field, but every asset that may be held by man, woman and child, rich and poor, corporation and individ- ual, field and forest, factory and finance. Europe is learning that war is such a big business that it must in- volve every other business. Britain's announcement that it intends to regulate shipping rates drives down the stocks of a big American ocean transportation company. The an- nouncement in Canada of a new war tax programme — an impost of 25 per cent, on net profits above 7 per cent. — causes a break in the stocks of the Canadian Pacific Eailway. Nations are saying to industry: "We are fighting a great war, one purpose of which is to protect you from the enemy. The war is cost- ing us millions of lives, which we never will get back. It is costing us billions in money, part of which is coming back to you. We are not going to let you stay at home and get hog fat on the proceeds of the nation's blood." It is necessary for nations to say this, because industry is full of self- ishness. There are some real pa- triots in business, but there are also gentlemen who watch the stock mar- ket more closely than they watch the death lists. These have to be dealt with in a way that will help the nation without actually harming industry itself. For object lessons in business men, good and bad, read the article from the "Annalist," printed elsewhere on this page. As capitalists are in France, so they are in every country. The government has to handle them so that the good shall not suffer for what is done by the bad. Nations are not content with drafting the help of big business. The individual is being used to his fullest extent. The women of France and Germany have long since taken the places of the men in the fields. England has been obliged to follow suit, and the wo- men who go out to plow and culti- vate are to wear a sleeve badge of honor. Women have been used as munition makers for a year in most of the European countries. Now a Philadelphia factory announces that it will put a thousand women at the work of making fuses for shells. This, if the wages are good and the surroundings decent, is a good thing. While America can get the knowledge for nothing, it ought to learn all it can about a business that has been threatening to be our most important business. If war should come, it will be curious to see how quickly this country will mobilize its industries. It will be interesting to see whether 548 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS finance will rally to the colors. Will Wall Street step up to the re- cruiting station, or will it hold back for profit? If the elder Morgan were alive as leader we should not hesitate for the answer. — Feb. 18, 1916. WHAT WINS WARS At great periods like the present crisis on the western front of the great war, Americans stop and ask themselves : What are the lessons of this conflict to us? What does it teach us of the new art of de- fense and attack, for us to use in any future war that may be forced upon us? One lesson that the great war seems determined that we shall learn is the supreme value of prep- aration. For the attack on Verdun, artillery and explosives were massed in unexampled force. The rain of fire obliterated dense woods, tan- gled with barbed wire as with the growth of tropical vegetation. When the Germans charged, it was over a waste and no one was left to oppose them. Explosives launched from ten and twenty mies away — the range directed by hovering air craft — exterminated trenches, men and machine guns. Artillery saves half the lives that might be lost in the charge aganst modern defen- sive positions. But the other half of lives cannot be saved. There are still winding trenches and concealed positions that cannot be found by the search- ing glasses in the captive balloons and roving aeroplanes of the Ger- mans. These positions must be taken by men who face the leaden hurricane and give their lives to buy with cold steel what the shells could not purchase. In the last analysis, it is the men who seal and deliver the message of victory or of surren- der which the big guns write. Away with this talk of economic pressure, of the mere weight of natural resources, in winning wars ! Economic pressure is met by the passion for self-denial and the gen- ius for invention which infuse a great people in its hour of need. The weight of natural resources, immobilized, unco-ordinated, blindly trusted in. becomes a weight in- deed, a weight of deadening slumber upon those who put their faith in words, in Fourth of July orations, in statistics. No. America is learning that wars are won and countries are saved by masses of artillery, by trainloads of explosives, by a perfect co-ordina- tion in the use of guns and infan- try, by years of detailed schemes to meet every possible contingency in every possible war, by plans im- mediately to put peace industries on a war footing and mobilize the na- tional resources. Above all, we are learning that wars are won by patriotic men who impose upon themselves sacrifices of military service and who, when the call sounds, take arms into their trained hands and meet the enemy in the shock of battle. — Mar. 4, 1916. OUR MUNITIONS WORKS To-day's wars are wars of explo- sives. It is not Joffre who wins ground in the Champagne; it is the seventy-fives of Schneider. Joffre's men merelv surge forward and oc- cupy the wilderness made by the shells of the French munitions works. It is not Sir John French MANUFACTURING PREPAREDNESS 549 who takes Hill 60. It is the work- ers in the three thousand British factories where, under Lloyd George, men and women make ex- plosives and projectiles. It is not the genius of the arch- duke and Von Mackensen who smother with shells the defenses of Przemysl and Ivangorod. It is not the Bavarians and the Branden- burgers who drive the French from the forts of Verdun. They are blasted out by the "Busy Berthas" and the Austrian 30-centimeter mortars. So with us in future wars. Our most important preparation is to safeguard our supplies for a war of artillery. For the first six months of war we should be dependent on supplies from existing munitions factories. Where are they located? All of the large factories are on or near the seaboard, susceptible to rapid destruction by an enemy ca- pable of landing on our shores. Winchester is in New Haven. The Union Metallic Cartridge Company is at Bridgeport. Colt is at Hart- ford. The United States Catridge Company is at Lowell. The Bethle- hem Steel plant is in Pennsylvania, a short distance from tidewater. The Robin Hood Ammunition Com- pany is at Swanton, Vt., just south of the Canadian line. The only am- munition factories in the safety zone west of the Alleghenies are Peters at Cincinnati and the West- ern Cartridge Company at St. Louis. Our powder mills are in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and espe- cially Delaware. Suppose a foe were to land at New Haven, send a column a few miles east to Bridgeport and then proceed up the Connecticut valley? Indeed, the enemy need not land. If he held the seas, he could lie off the coast and demolish New Haven, Bridgeport and Wilmington and be immune from submarines because of his torpedo nets and his de- stroyers. Our industry for munitions and explosives must be moved to points west of the mountain range. There is no call for any policy that will destroy the present companies. Let the government give its orders only to concerns located within the safety zone and, if necessary, subsidize the rapid erection of plants there. The present munitions and explosives, people will be the first to transfer their capital and their activities to the place where money is to be made. It is for the government to de- fray for industry the higher labor costs and the higher assembling and distributing costs which will arise when the most vital part of our de- fensive organism is placed beyond the range of sudden military or naval attack.— Mar. 18, 1916. BETHLEHEM STEEL HEAD MAKES OFFER TO NATION Presents Project to Furnish Ar- mor Plate at Lower Price Than That Heretofore Paid By Eugene G. Grace. [The following statement by Eugene G. Grace, president of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, is reproduced because it presents the principle of co-operation between the government and private en- terprise, which will best conserve the interests of both. Mr. Grace, as the head of one of the greatest producers of armor plate in the world, makes an offer to supply armor plate at a figure which, compared with the cost of the same material to foreign navies, indi- cates a sincere desire to place at the services of the country the producing 550 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS power of a great corporation for the needs of the nation. Mr. Grace's com- munication is addressed to the House committee on naval affairs, which is uow considering the bill passed by the Sen- ate providing for the establishment of a government armor plate plant.] The Senate lias passed the bill to construct a government armor plant at a cost of $11,000,000. If tho House should pass this bill, it will mean that as soon as the new plant is constructed, the twenty odd mil- lion dollars now invested in private- ly owned plants will have been ren- dered practically valueless, for exist- ing plants have ample capacity to meet all the needs of the govern- ment. The question, however, should not be determined merely with reference to the interests of private manufac- turers : it should be decided with ref- erence to the interests of the people as a whole, aud especially with supreme regard for adequate nation- al defense. The Bethlehem Steel Company, altogether aside from its financial in- terests hut recognizing its obligation as a citizen, in order that its posi- tion may be clearly understood now desires formally to submit the fol- lowing proposition to the federal government : We will manufacture one-third, or such additional quantity as may bo awarded to us. of the armor-plate re- quired for the contemplated five- year naval programme (estimated at approximately 120,00.0 tons, at a price of $396 for side armor, as com- pared with the price of $435 now obtaining. The proposed price is lower than ha? been paid by the gov- ernment for more than ten years. If the foregoing price is not sat- isfactory, we will agree to permit any well-known firm of chartered public accounts to inventory our plant and make careful estimates of the cost of manufacture; with that data in hand we will meet with the secretary of the navy and agree to manufacture armor at a price which will be entirely satisfactory to him, as being quite as low as the price at which the government could possi- bly manufacture armor on its own account, after taking into account all proper charges. Lower Price the Aim Admiral Straus, chief of the naval bureau of ordnance, has stated that the only possible purpose of a gov- ernment plant is to obtain a lower price, lucre certainly is some point where it would not pay the United States to build an armor plant of its own. We make the foregoing proposi- tion rather than have our plant put out of existence. We have invested over $7,000,000 in that plant, as actually inventoried to-day. This figure does not take into account large sums— certainly $2,500,000 — expended for plant and equipment which have been ebandoned because of becoming obsolete. We are to-day selling armor to the United States government at a lower price than any other large naval power in the world is paying, even where the government has itself em- barked in the business. Not only is that true, but the specifications in the United States are much more rigid and the vases paid are very much higher than those prevailing in any foreign country. England buys its armor from five privately owned plants, and is now paying $503 a ton. Germany has two privately owned plants, and is MANUFACTURING PREPAREDNESS 551 paying $450 a ton. The United States pays $425 a ton, and we now offer to reduce that figure by $30 a ton. All the more important countries engaged in the present war employ the policy with reference to armor- plate manufacture which tins coun- try now threatens to abandon. At Disposal of Country The meaning of that policy is that it places continuously at the disposal of the government in this important detail of national defense the experi- ence, the enterprise, the initiative and the resources of the steel manu-. facturing industry of the country. Steel prices are continually going up, and they are to-day much higher than has been the case for many years. In spite of that, we offer to build armor at a lower price than the United States government has paid for twenty-nine years, and we agree to accept this lower price for the next five years. We also call attention to the fact that though since the war began we have been able to get in Europe al- most any price we chose to ask for ordnance, we have during that period made no addition whatever to the selling price to the United States government of any of the ordnance products which we manu- facture.— Mar. 24, 1916. HOSPITALS, GRAVES AND AMMUNITION A keen American observer on the German front in France writes and tells us the reason why the Germans, with small losses in men, are slowly closing the steel jaws of the crown prince's nutcracker and slowly re- ducing Verdun. The American observer rode tow- ard the fighting lines from the Ger- man interior in the days when the fighting around Vaux and Douau- mont was raging and reports were reaching us of whole German army corps being annihilated. The ob- server found nothing of the sort. As he approached the front he saw no hospital trains moving to the rear. The feature of the railroad traffic was the endless procession of am- munition trains rolling forward to the German lines. When he reached the safe fringe of the fighting front he found the field hospitals only normally em- ployed, but at the end of the stand- ard-guage railroads he saw moun- tains of shells piled high on plat- forms and on the ground besides. The American pressed on toward the fighting trenches of the Ger- mans, over miles of territory fresh- ly taken from the French. It was not dotted with graves, as is the ground of many battlefields in this bloodiest of wars. The gain had been purchased at small cost of life. What he did see was the serpentine trails of narrow-gauge railways, their toy engines chugging forward over the rough terrain, carrying shells from the safe basis in the rear to the new positions which the guns were to occupy when the infantry made its next advance. The neatly piled mounds of am- munition mark the location of the German batteries to-morrow. The same batteries are now back eating yesterday's shell heaps and blowing the French out of their trenches. When the trenches have been oblit- erated the range of the German cur- tain of fire will be shifted a little farther forward, and under its ter- rible protection the German infan- 552 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS try will advance and re-dig the blasted French defenses. Not hospital trains for the rear, but endless trains of ammunition for the front, mountains of shells, busy winding narrow-gauge railways to the firing line, stores of projectiles for the hungry guns, and a curtain of fire. Which does America, which does Congress want ? Our men at Wash- ington are choosing for us. They may vote now to have trains of am- munition ready to carry our shells to the front. Or some time later, located in some temporary capital west of the Alleghanies, they may have occasion to vote money for hos- pital trains to carry their fellow citi- zens to the rear. — April 13, 1916. FORD FIREWORKS In all the newspaper acreage that Henry Ford is sowing with anti-pre- paredness one fails to find the very note that might be expected of a man of great constructive ability. In the desire of a man of wealth and power to further a campaign in be- half of peace and industrial progress there lies an unparalleled oppor- tunity for constructive education in the advancement of a positive and creative programme. Red-blooded Americans, especially young Ameri- cans, will listen to anybody who has a proposition that is highly colored with something to do. They have little patience, however, with anti- Cults and merely negative plans. The "armor plate people," whom Mr. Ford so trenchantly attacks, have at least a definite programme of tangible constructiveness. They say to us : "Let us build great ships and sail them. Let us build huge factories and turn out new and won- derful machinery for the defense of our nation. Let us have a flock of splendid aeroplanes to fleck the sky and tell us where danger lies. Let us make submarines bigger and more powerful than any the world has ever seen. Let us create a mag- nificent transportation and supply system that will enable us to hit quick and hard if we need to hit at all. Let us do tilings bigly and thor- oughly and proudly !" There may be an undercurrent of selfishness in this line of talk. The patriotism of Hudson Maxim and Mr. Du Pont may be tinctured with a desire to see their business inter- ests grow; but that is not to the point. The fact remains that the preparedness people, the armor plate people if you please, hold up a crea- tive programme that is shot through with "something of the heroic." Even if it prove to be an obsolescent form of heroism to build great en- gines of destruction, the appeal to do will remain stronger than the warning to don't so long as there is a spark of the constructive urge within us and perhaps a dash of Nietzsche's "Will to Power." Under the standard of the minus sign, pacifism will make its appeal only to the timid and retiring, to people who wear small, shy buttons labeled "Anti-War," and whose nervous sys- tems melt instead of bounding to the roll of a drum or the trample of horses' hoofs. Suppose Henry Ford should get together some of the great captains of peace-time industry like himself and say: "Go to, now, let us not kick against the pricks ; preparedness is a good and weighty word, let us use it instead of knocking it. There are hundreds of thousands of acres of state and national land in our MANUFACTURING PREPAREDNESS 553 country that need reforestation. There are hundreds of thousands of husky school boys who are aching to go camping next summer. Let's get these young boys and several mil- lion young trees together in summer camps for a big piece of conservation work in the spirit of play. Let's bring in all the military training that is good for youngsters to have; under regular military officers, for additional recreation. Let the boys have sham battles and dig trenches They love to play at fighting and they may as well do it under expert direction and in a spirit of good will. The training will do them good men- tally and physically, but the princi- pal motif will be the larger prepar- edness of creative and conservative work for our country, the planting of trees for the future wealth of the nation. Preparation for a possible defense of our flag will be incidental, but thorough and important. Thus we will bring about an unconscious education of all those manly quali- ties that we want American citizens to have, and we will lay the founda- tions for that technique which will serve us in case of need." Suppose that the Ford educational propaganda could show big business — say, the paper and lumber busi- ness, for example — that some such patriotic experiment could be tried on a large scale, just as it has been already tried in miniature, not as an adventure in charity, but as a defi- nite investment of capital. Suppose the industries of peace could be shown ways in which they could en- list in a great preparedness campaign that would be as profitable to them in time as the present campaign promises to be shortly for the purely military industries. Suppose that, instead of going counter to our American instinct to create, to achieve wealth and power, and to pioneer in new fields, the pacifists should get in line with the best that lies in this instinct and work out a constructive programme for its wise direction. Would not something in- spiring, and perhaps even glorious result ? Henry Ford has taken a high place among Americans of constructive and organizing genius. In turning part of his attention from the mak- ing of machines to the making of peace he has shown that quality of heart and mind which is the heritage of our best American manhood and womanhood, and which realizes it- self in the conviction that there are even higher fields of service than the building of fine physical instru- ments for human use. Mr. Ford learned a bitter lesson on his vision- ary trip to Europe. Perhaps he will learn another lesson while he watches the spectacular play of his far-flung verbal pyrotechnics, which leave only the blackened shell of negative don't-ness after their sparkling and noise. Perhaps he will be the first great pacifist to harness the power of idealism suported by money and or- ganizing genius in the cause of a real and fundamental preparedness for the future contingencies of peace, and possibly of war. This larger preparedness is not to be measured in terms of nitrogen, copper and steel. It is a question of building sound bodies and steady, obedient nerves. The human stuff is waiting, ready, anxious to respond to the pacifist's call; but this must come in the form of practical plan, freighted heavily with something to do! And yet the name of Ford, and the principles of pacifism with which 554 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS it is coupled, are being made a rally- ing cry in politics in the West and middle West. Michigan, despite the fact that Mr. Ford has declined to appear in the part of "favorite son," gave him a larger vote than it ac- corded to Senator William Alden Smith, for many years the political leader of the state and in full con- trol of its electioneering machinery. In other western commonwealths he is acclaimed as the bearer of a new and stirring message to the people. May it not be that international- ism is nearer than most of us think it is, that America is to be the pioneer in the movement and that Henry Ford is to be its standard- bearer? — April 19, 1916. AMERICA'S GREATEST ECONOMIST In the homely, forceful way he has of expressing things Henry Ford has likened the automobile market to a pyramid of layers and layers of people. Up at the top there is but one. At the bottom there are hundreds upon hundreds of thou- sands — perhaps millions. If there were only one car in the world he supposes one man would pay a mil- lion dollars for it. There are, how- ever, 2,000,000 families in the United States who should have auto- mobiles, and every time the price of a car is reduced the market is broad- ened by uncovering a new and wider layer to the pyramid. It is as an economist, a master merchant, that Henry Ford most concerns America. He has furnished the most absolute proof of the soundness and the virtue of the principle of Low Cost and Big Vol- ume. Perhaps no other business than that of the automobile offered so good an opportunity for the demon- stration. It is new. It had not been bound up in old ideas and old systems. It was saved from many perils through the good sense of its pioneers in agreeing to "co-operative competition" by standardizing the tread of the car, standardizing vari- ous parts of the car, eliminating strife and ruinous legal fighting over patents, and limiting rivalry to salesmanship, to efficiency, utility and value. The output of the Ford plant is colossal. It is one of the industrial wonders of the world, all the more amazing in view of the short time in which the automobile has been a vehicle for man. Mr. Ford is to make 1,000,000 a year. More than on-half of all the cars in America to-day are Fords. There is a limit to everything. The point of satura- tion may have been reached or may be approaching in America. The manufacturers think not. Conser- vative observers think otherwise. There may be a halt temporarily and then a new era of development and expansion. That, however, is beside the main issue. The great thing Ford and a few of the others have demon- strated is the responsiveness of this great American market of 100,000,- 000 or 110,000,000 of people to im- mense volume of an essential prod- uct when that product is brought down to reasonable price. They have proved there is more profit in a great output at a moder- ate profit than in limited output at a higher rate of gain. No nation offers such a market as does this one in America. No other industry has proven so wonderfully MANUFACTUEING PEEPAKEDNESS 555 and so convincingly the worth of manufacturing principles and meth- ods that are and always have been at the command of all. Great vol- ume of output makes possible the application of numerous manufac- turing economies otherwise impos- sible, and these economies in turn make for lower selling price of the product. Greater volume of produc- tion means greater prosperity more employment, better living. The example Mr. Ford has given to the manufacturing world must sink deep into the consciousness of men in other lines of industry. It must serve to eliminate much of the waste with which too many of our industries are cursed. It must promote standardization. There is not a larger business in America that cannot profit by what has been done in the automobile field. How burdened we are with wrong ideas few persons realize. How widely we could economize, and in economizing improve, few appreciate. The rail- roads could save countless millions by standardizing the box car. To- day there are 1,100 different styles of box car. And a box car costs ap- proximately $1,000. Fifty or seven- ty-five styles would serve immeasur- ably better, and the cost of manu- facturing would be reduced immedi- ately perhaps $100 per car. There are 2,500,000 box cars on the rail- roads of the United States. Standardization would reduce the cost of ship building. The fogies fight against it, ridicule the idea, scoff as they scoffed at Ford. There hardly is an industry in our whole business fabric to which the lesson of Ford could not be brought home with profit to the producer and profit to the consumer. Greater than as an apostle of so- cial justice is Henry Ford, the in- dustrial economist. — May 5, 1916. THE SHIFTING OF MILITARY POWER It is interesting to understand the industrial basis for the present set- back which Italy is experiencing at the hands of Austria. The reason is not that the Italians are not as brave as the Austrians or as well- trained and well-officered. Numer- ically the Italians are far superior to their adversaries. And yet the battle goes on against them. The reason is the overwhelming superior- ity of the Austrian artillery, the Austrian shell supply. It is an in- structive illustration of the fact that war has become largely a compli- cated metallurgical operation. The cause of Austrian superiority in metal lies in the relative resources of the two countries. Italy has no steel industry, for she has no coal or ore fields upon which that industry could rise. In normal times she has bought her coal, and much of her raw iron and steel, from England and Germany. Now the war cuts off the German supply. England needs nearly all the steel she can make, both to sup- ply her own needs and to make good the loss of France when the metal centers of that country were occupied by the Germans. Italy must be content with what can be spared after these main demands are met. Nor is this a time when a steel industry can be built up in Italy. Germany will not supply the coal. England cannot spare it. The United States would supply it, but there are no ships to carry it across. Think of freight rates from Norfolk 556 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS to Genoa of $35 per ton on coal! And there is no tonnage to carry it even at that rate. If by any means Italy could get the coal, where are the vessels to bring iron ore from Algiers and Spain? Contrast with this the situation of Austria. Germany is the great- est steel producer in the world, after the United States. The Germans are helping the Austrians out. But Austria has mighty steel works of her own, the Skoda munitions plant ranking with Krupp, Schneider and Vickers. It is Skoda and Krupp that are driving the Italian armies down into the plains of Italy. The world could not have a bet- ter demonstration of what wins wars, nor a better illustration of the fallacy of counting male popu- lations and estimating the strength of fighting nations thereby. Italy's teeming millions will not avail against the machines and tons of steel against which human arms can- not stand. Russia's hordes do not bring victory to her; her industrial heart, Poland, is in the hands of the enemy. To-day the Russians are shifting men to the western front, where the allies have shells enough to protect them. It is vain for the Czar to send his simple moujiks against the German trenches in the east. Let him stamp a steel indus- try out of the earth if he can. In the future handbooks of war, statistics of populations and even of standing armies will play a minor role. The compelling facts will be the statistics of steel production. The overpowering influence of artil- lery in war is creating a totally new basis for military supremacy, just as the submarine is shifting the basis of sea power. We look amazed at the working of a fate that plays into our hands. We have half the steel production of the earth. Organized, co-ordi- nated with a trained citizenry, it will make us invincible on land. We are separated by wide oceans from all nations powerful enough to at- tack us, oceans which our fleets of submarines can make the certain grave of any expedition that comes against us. A kind Nature conspires with the course of development of military art to provide us with the means of certain and impregnable defense. If we do not even care to learn to use the weapons thrust upon us, we shall deserve the defeat and con- quest that we shall some day suffer at the hands of a people for whom fate did less but who were willing to do more for themselves. — May 35, 1916. AMERICAN EFFICIENCY These days are furnishing us with instances of the marvelous America in which we live, of the great effi- cient industries which stand ready to serve us, and which, once properly co-ordinated with a national system of training our manhood and assem- bling material for them to use, will make us invincible and immune from attack. Since this Mexican border mobilization began, the Ford and Packard Motor companies have, in the quiet way that great things are done, shown us what such indus- tries mean to us. The Ford Motor Company was asked by the War Department how long it would take to make and have ready for shipment 1,000 trucks of a certain type. The Ford Company said that they would need a little notice; that if they were notified at MANUFACTURING PREPAREDNESS 557 4 o'clock on the afternoon of one day the cars would be completed and ready for shipment at the close of the next day. An official of the War Department called the Packard Company on the long-distance phone from Washing- ton and ordered twenty-seven ar- mored motor cars made and shipped to the Mexican border as rapidly as possible. The Packard people were asked to supply expert driver and mechanician with each car. The Packard Company went to work on the cars and engaged the men to operate them. A train of freight cars was put on the Packard siding, attached to it a Pullman and diner. In twent} r -two hours after the tele- phone was hung up the twenty-seven armored motor cars were made and loaded, and the train was moving southwest from Detroit with the right of way to destination. In fif- ty-one hours more the motor cars were unloaded and ready for service "somewhere on the border." — July 6, 1916. COAL The enormous rise in sea freights has, it is true, raised the price of coal to almost prohibitive figures, and al- though wood is being used in increasing quantities as a substitute, the supplies so far have fallen short of the demand, and much additional expenditure has been in- curred. — From a report on the Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway in the "Statist," of London. Coal at the mine mouth costs from 60 cents to $1 a ton in the United States. The cost of trans- portation to the seaboard is less than $2 per ton. In Buenos Aires soft coal sells at from $30 to $40 a ton. American coal men cannot market their coal in the Argentine or elsewhere because they cannot get ships. This would be ludicrous if it were not such a sorrowful indictment of our national neglect, our disjointed, haphazard way of doing things, our failure to plan and to act logically and coherently. Occasionally a man does a thing that should open our eyes to some of the opportunities that are about us. A man did this some years ago in this department of coal. The man was H. H. Rogers. He had made a great fortune in Standard Oil. He had vision and courage. He saw in the mountains of West Virginia a vast region underlaid with coal which was undeveloped because it was so difficult to reach. Difficulties appealed to Rogers. He had been wrestling with them all his life. He determined to master this one. He built a railroad from the sea up to and across the moun- tains. The building of a railroad' through the Grand Canyon was easy in comparison with what the men engaged on the construction of Rogers's railroad had to contend with. There are some miles of line on that route that cost probably more than a similar amount of main line anywhere else in the world. And all this, it must be under- stood, Rogers did to get volume of tonnage of the lowest class of freight, traffic on which the net profit would not be more than a mill per ton per mile. Despite all his wealth, influence and power the building of that road almost ruined him. He poured out his money as if there were not end to it — never wastefully, but freely where he saw the expenditure of a million meant the lessening of a grade to a degree that would com- 558 THE GEAYEST 366 DAYS pensate for the outlay. The road was to be his monument. It was to be the creation of one man, the greatest, best and most admirably equipped and economically man- aged freight line of the world. He was caught in the panic of 1907 and it nearly broke his heart to find that bankers to whom it was customary for him to give orders now demanded the instant payment of loans he had negotiated; that he, who had been imperious, now had to be a suppliant ; that the treasures he had piled up through a lifetime of wonderful success he had to sacrifice to save his one cherished project; that instead of being a superman financially he was brought down to the common level in time of terror. He sacrificed much to save the railroad. To have lost that was something unthinkable to him. He finished the building of the line, and then he died. He had given to the country an artery through which a great flood of the rich blood of commerce could flow. While he depended on the coal busi- ness of the Atlantic coast states for the bulk of his business, he had the -vision to see that with the cheapest freight rate in the world from the mine to the sea a tremendous trade with the nations to the south of us might be developed ; that instead of Great Britain selling millions of tons of coal in Latin America, the United States might have the trade and that such commerce would de- velop return cargo for this country that would ramify in ways beyond appreciation. Rogers was an economist. Waste to him was something always to be fought. The pride he took in the Virginian Railroad, for that was the name he gave to his property, was in the remarkable manner in which Nature's obstacles had been over- come to reduce grades to a mini- mum, to employ the power of grav- ity to the highest possible degree and to bring the line as near per- fection as was humanly possible. And of what avail was the effort of H. H. Rogers and other great Americans whose vision has been broad? Of what use is it to blaze a way to new and richer fields if those for whom you would work are indifferent and would rather idle in older pastures? There is a coal concern at 1 Broadway that had an opportunity to sell millions of tons of coal to France, 500,000 tons a year for five years or ten years, or a million tons a year for five years if it could make delivery. It has been unable to find vessels for one-fifth of the amount required in the first year. It chartered Greek ships and Brit- ish ships. After one of its British ships had delivered two cargoes in France, it was taken over by the British government, ostensibly for transport purposes, but really to break the charter. This was one of the many embar- rassments to which the coal people were subjected. It seemed as if, al- though Great Britain was unable to supply coal to France, Spain, Italy and the countries on the north coast of Africa, except in limited quanti- ties, she did not intend any other country should enter the trade. France, Italy, Spain, want coal. The prices they pay are fabulous, but America can do nothing, for America has not the ships. Some American coal men, inflamed by the prospect of profits, have gone so far as to plan to send coal across the ocean in barges, as coal is sent MANUFACTURING PREPAREDNESS 559 along the shore in this country. Lately there has been a radical im- provement in towing. By means of a spring hawser the slack of a rope is taken up automatically and held taut at all times, no matter how heavy the sea may be. There are sea students and shippers who be- lieve freight will be carried across the ocean before long in trains of barges as freight is carried on land in trains of cars. But of what good is all this to- day to the "Virginian Railroad, or the Norfolk and Western, or the Chesapeake and Ohio, or the coal miners of West Virginia or Pennsyl- vania? South America is burning wood because, although willing to pay $30 to $40 a ton for coal, she can get no coal. France, Italy, Spain, in desperate need of coal, can get no coal except as England doles it out. And America, the richest country in the world, a nation with nearly two-fifths of the wealth of all the nations and with the largest coal deposits on earth and the best rail- roads and the cheapest and best land transportation of any land, is helpless when it reaches salt water. Its financial statesmen are busy making commissions. What a pity ! — August 26, 1916. Transportation Preparedness "A FINE THING FOR KATY" When our penetration paeifique of Mexico was determined upon, specu- lation began in the stocks of south- western railroads. A financial para- graph in a New York paper thus described the situation: In case the government is forced to transport large masses of troops to the Mexican border, this business should prove very remunerative to the railroads. Wall street recalled yesterday the char- acteristic remark of a director of one of these properties, the M. K. and T.. made at an early date when war with Mexico seemed imminent, that "it would be a fine thing for Katy." Already the talk is of what the railroads will get out of the na- tion's emergency, not of the service they will render. The prospective character of service is being indi- cated by the reports of congestion and delay in handling troops and supplies for the tiny force which is sampling the large job of clearing those Augean stables south of the border line. It is not that Katy is malicious. It is that she has never been taught that her business is less important than the national business. Ask the railroad officials whether they have a set of freight and passenger time tables for military trains, worked out in detail for emergency, whether their equipment and their lines near the border are built to serve army as well as civilian needs. No; the government's is like any other piece of emergency business for which no particular preparation has been made. Later, when we have a real enemy on our vulnerable Atlantic and Pa- cific borders, we shall pay the full penalty for this haphazard co-ordi- nation of our military and industrial resources for the common defense. Then perhaps we shall learn that in war, as in everything else, whatever is worth doing is worth doing well. Our performance in this chil- dren's battle in the south may be trying for the rest of us. But "it will be a fine thing for Katy." — March 17, 1916. A FREE PORT IN NEW YORK Barcelona has established a free port district and Spain has added another to the limited list of free ports. Three years ago the Mer- chants' Association of New York in- terested itself in the matter of a free port for New York. It may not be an inopportune time to revive the matter. The model of all free ports is Hamburg. The port district of Hamburg — the water area and the land immediately adjacent — is sur- rounded by a paling of the German customs department. The free port is treated like foreign soil; goods pay no duty until they cross the cus- toms line. A ship sails up the Elbe into the free port of Hamburg and discharges with no surveillance of the customs authorities. Goods are stored in the free port TRANSPORTATION PREPAREDNESS 5til warehouses and re-exported — often after rehandling, rebranding or mix- ing — without the customs people knowing of the process. There are factories in the free port which manufacture mainly for export. They import their raw materials and export their products as free from surveillance or interference as if they were on a desert isle. The red tape of bonded warehouses, bonded factories and duty drawbacks greatly hinder such a development in this country. Of course the need for this partic- ular facility depends largely upon the extent to which New York is a transshipment point for goods whose origin and destination are else- where. Hamburg has a vast trans- shipment trade, by which she handles a large part of the com- merce of the oversea world with Scandinavia and Baltic Russia. Co- penhagen's free port during this war is reaping the harvest now being sowed. New York has a consider- able transshipment business moving between Europe and the West In- dies. Mexico, Central America and northern South America. New York will have a larger transship- ment business when the former cur- rents of European-Asiatic trade shift to the route via the Panama Canal after the war. New York will then become a great port of call and point of interchange. A free port district in New York may well be taken into considera- tion as a measure of commercial preparedness looking to the end of the wax.— June 29, 1916. RAILROAD PREPAREDNESS "30,000 pounds, 12 horses, 28 men. This is the inscription on the standard German box car. That car is built for the services of peace, but it is ready for the uses of war. It will carry 30,000 pounds, 12 horses or 28 men. If you examine it care- fully, you may find rings on the walls and ceiling. That is where .the cots are hung. When a German railroad is laid out, commercial and topographical considerations do not alone prevail. In America a railroad connects traf- fic centers by whatever roundabout route affords the easiest grades. It may evade some strategic point on a frontier or a coast. It would cost us a little more to accommodate the roads to military and coast defense demands, but the extra expense could be borne by the government, and some day perhaps save us a dis- aster. On New Year's day every year the German chief of staff hands the Kaiser the military time tables of the empire. These are schedules suppressing the ordinary trains and providing for the mobilization of millions of men in a few days on Germany's borders. The military schedules do not interfere with the peaceful traffic of the railroads. Only, when the test comes these railroads are ready for national service. When the mobilization call is sent out each operating official of the German railroads opens the sealed envelope containing the time tables for his division. He knows how many men, horses, guns, how much ammunition and equipment, are to be taken on at each entrainment sta- tion. Ordinary freight and passen- ger traffic is suspended. That is why the general staff knows that to-morrow morning 40,- 562 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS 000 troops and their equipment will roll into some apparently insignifi- cant station on the Russian border, some station with abnormally large terminal yards for its commercial needs. It was this sort of silent mobiliza- tion that had Germany's force of millions on her borders in a week. Rut the service of the railroads did not stop here. They not only dis- pone but shift forces. It is not the number of your men that counts. It is the number of men and the force of artillery you can bring into a given action. In the midst of the German drive for Paris in early Sep- tember, libit, when the Russians suddenly burst into East Prussia, two army corps were detached from the westerin front and almost over night were put into Hindenburg's hands and hurled against the Rus- sians in their first defeat at the Masurian lakes, llindenburg told an American correspondent that he won his battles with railroads. To- day it is not German numbers that, count, but German mobility. Mo- bility is due to the railroads. The lesson of this railroad war is clear for us. We have two-fifths of the railroad mileage of the world, wholly meo-ordinated with our mili- tary needs. The mobilization on the Mexican border is showing us one phase of our unpreparedness, and it may teach us to meet the whole problem.— July 3, 1916. THE CANADIAN PACIFIC With ownership of the Canadian Pacific Railroad held in this coun- try, and possibly in Xew York, it seems absurd that not one represen- tative of this country is on the di- rectorate. With nearly one-third of the mileage o( the Canadian Pacific in the United States, it seems unjust that every energy of the Canadian Pacific should be exerted for the benefit of everything Canadian at the expense or to the detriment of everything American. What does ownership mean or mileage in this country signify if the property is not to be of worth to the United States as well as Canada? To-day. to build up Canada at the expense of the United States, the Canadian Pacific does everything within its power to make the border a Chinese wall between the two centuries. The Canadian Pacific has been government aided, government con- trolled, and almost government di- rected. Rut it is not government owned. Its ownership now rests in new hands. It would be well for the Canadians to recognize ibis, and also the great and impelling fact that within the next ten years the problems of the Pacific may be pressing for solution: that these problems concern Canada as well as this country, and that a people speaking one tongue and having the same high ambitions can do more working for the economic strength and soundness of all the Americas than by proceeding along narrow and old lines of prejudice, jealousy and opposition. The Canadians have much in common with the people of the United States. Canada's great rail- road should be no more an agency for Canada than for the United States. The Canadian Pacific is too much American now to be wholly Canadian. It is time for some of our banker-statesmen to emphasize this fact.— Sept. 11. 1916. Our Finances NEW FEDERAL TAXES Now that the international crisis is either cleared or evaded, we hear that Washington is to turn to the matter of raising additional rev- enue in the form of war taxes. When the subject was last under consideration by the Democratic leaders in the House, it was esti- mated that $100,000,000 additional revenue could probably be raised by means of an increase in the income tax rate, especially on large incomes. • The largest loss in federal in- come is due to a drop in customs duties collected on imported goods. The greatest loss is because our im- ports from the central powers have been exterminated by what our gov- ernment designates as an illegal blockade. Of the $700,000,000 which in nor- mal times the United States col- lects in the form of taxes, nearly half, $300,000,000, is in the form of customs duties. Germany alone furnishes normally 14f per cent, of our imports subject to duty. Many of the German imports are high in value and carry high tariff rates. It is not unreasonable to assume that $40,000,000 to $45,000,000 of customs revenue normally is levied on imports from Germany. It might not be amiss to remind Congress and the administration that there is a simple way to raise $45,000,000 of revenue and at the same time raise the British "block- ade." The power lies in the hands of Washington to compel England to the same observance of international law which we are requiring of Ger- many. Moreover, by the same ac- tion the President would Fulfill his ardent wish, expressed February 4 at St. Louis: I want the record of the conduct of this administration to be u record of gen* uine neutrality and not of pretended neiil iiility. Forty-five million dollars is a rather large annual contribution for a neutral government to be making toward the maintenance of a block- ade which, it officially declares, is illegal, indefensible and a glaring violation of the rights of peaceful commercial nations upon the high seas of the world. — March 13, 19 1G. PATRIOTISM IN FINANCE A New York banker questions whether it is fair to criticise Ameri- can bankers for floating the $500,- 000,000 Anglo-French loan when they might, by refusing to lend the money, compel foreign holders of American securities to sell them back to us at our price. He points out that American bankers played a large part in influencing foreign investors to supply the money that built American railroads, and with- out the railroads, which make up one-half of the world's total, the de- velopment of America would have been impossible. He points out fur- 564 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS ther that, as agents of these foreign investors, the American bankers are under a moral obligation to protect them and not act to their embar- rassment. There is a fair measure of merit in his contention. Unfortunately, the American banker has not given evidence at all times of a moral obligation to protect the foreign investor or the American investor. His long record of passive conduct while speculators or wreckers played ducks and drakes with great railroads is not to the credit of the American banker. The banker has dominated the management of the railroads for many years. He dominates to-day. If his management always had been with a full sense of the moral obli- gation to the investor it is doubt- ful whether properties aggregating more than 40,000 miles of road would be in bankruptcy and the federal and state governments would have found it necessary to place such restrictions upon railroads as now are in force. The banker is under a moral obligation to protect the foreign in- vestor. He also is under a moral obligation to the nation. To protect it, to advance its interests, should be one of his highest aims. It is because the banker has not shown the vision, the ability and the broad patriotism to utilize to the fullest the benefits to America that the wonderful situation created by the world crisis presented, that the editorial, "Wanted, a Financial Statesman," was printed.. This country has had bankers of •magnificent courage, high ideals and inspiring patriotism. They were not content in time of national emer- gency to be mere middlemen. What finer figure in all the his- tory of American finance is there than Eobert Morris? He devoted his great talent and his entire for- tune to the cause of his country in the long years of the revolution. But for him, the cause of liberty might have failed. Somehow he managed in the darkest hours of the struggle for independence to find money and furnish supplies for the ragged army of Washington. In the council room of the Bank of North America in Philadelphia the chair in which he sat and the table at which he worked are pre- served as sacredly as are the his- toric treasures of Independence Hall across the way. It was in his honor, no doubt, that the government granted to that bank, the oldest in the western world, the privilege of retaining without change its name when it took a national charter. To-day it is the only national bank in the United States without "na- tional" as part of its name. And the sailor-banker Etienne Girard, whom we know better un- der his Anglicized name of Stephen Girard, was no less patriotic. He was the mainstay of the government in finance in the war of 1812. In 1813, when the capitol at Washington had been burned and the torch applied to the President's mansion, the treasury, the arsenal and the barracks, and the govern- ment was in disorder, he did his greatest service to the republic. The finances of the government were in a sorry state. The army and navy were clamoring for supplies. Grave doubts were entertained as to wheth- er the British would not overrun the land and force the President to sue for peace. When the outlook was blackest, OUR FINANCES 565 the government had to try to float a loan of $5,000,000. That does not seem much now, but it was large at that moment. The na- tion's credit was so poor that this loan, which was to bear 7 per cent, interest, was offered at 70. The government's agents did everything they could to get subscribers, but when the day for the closing arrived only $20,000 had been pledged. Failure meant financial collapse for the government. What was to be done? While others were asking the question, Girard came forward and subscribed for the whole $4,980,000 that remained of the $5,000,000. The effect was electrical. Men who were predicting the downfall of the nation suddenly had a change of heart. A leader had arisen. If the greatest banker of America was willing to stake his entire fortune on the integrity of the United States, they were too. A few asked to be permitted to subscribe. Then others came in droves until there almost was a struggle fur the privilege. He let them subscribe and they re- joiced. So did he. So did the anx- ious President. The government had been saved from bankruptcy and discredit. How many persons know of that other banker, Enoch W. Clark, who financed the Mexican war? He gave his best efforts to his country. It was one of the men trained in E. W. Clark's service, Jay Cooke, who was the great power, the brains, in financing the United States gov- ernment in the perilous years of the Civil War. All these men were Philadel- phians. The Quaker City no longer stands pre-eminent in American banking. That proud distinction now is held by New York. To-day America offers to a finan- cial statesman an opportunity great- er than ever before presented in her history. The nation is the richest of the earth. The commercial and finan- cial headship of the world should be its heritage. One man — one leader — can point the way and chart the course, one man who will play the American game and play the game for Amer- ica.— March 16, 1916. WANTED: FINANCIAL LEADERSHIP American bankers have been miss- ing a chance to remove British finan- cial domination from our money market by forcing Great Britain to hand back to us the vast hoard of American securities which she was alwa} r s ready to throw on our mar- kets. The possession of this power has given England the call on our gold resources. Upon gold resources depend credit, and upon credit finan- cial power. For many decades London has been the financial center of the world. International debts of all sorts were paid in sterling exchange, in bills on London. The interest on these lulls, and the commissions paid the acceptance housese whose approval made the bills current in the London market — both were sources of large earnings to London. Moreover, the concentration of inter- national financing in London tended to draw with it the concentration of international trade so financed. This financial situation was one of the pillars of British commercial su- premacy. 566 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS The British money market was both the most stable and the cheap- est in the world. It was the cheap- est because of England's vast aceu- nmlation of wealth during centuries of internal peace and external do- minion. It also was the most stable money market — in part because bil- lions of American securities were held in British hands. If British interest rates went up, due to the pressure of credit demands upon the gold reserves of the country. Eng- land sold American securities in New York, and so replenisher her gold supply. Our gold was thus constantly at London's call. "When the war broke out Great Britain began to order from us by the hundred million. In return for these purchases American bankers had the power to demand from Eng- land what payment they chose. To demand gold would have been to wreck the British financial struc- ture; besides, we had as much gold as we needed. The thing for our bankers to do was to demand that British-held American securities be collected by the British government and returned to us to pay for our shipments. This would have accomplished three ob- jects : First, it would have obtained our "investment independence" from Britain. Second, it would have given us securities that are truly secure, whose payment is not dependent upon the financial solvency of a bel- ligerent in a war which may wreck all those engaged in it. Third, this course would have freed our money market from an ever-threatening call upon our gold, a condition bound to be more dan- gerous for us in proportion as we really become a center of interna- tional finance, with our need for credit-power continually conflicting with that of England. Instead, we "took $500,000,000 of unsecured Anjjlo-French bonds. They give us no call on the British money market, for they are listed onlv in Xew York and payable onlv there. As this $500,000,000 is being spent, the British government is be- ing forced to "mobilize"' American securities — it could have been froced to do this at the beginning. But most of these American se- curities are merely "loaned" to the British government by the investors. They do not desire to part with the surest securities in the world in these days, which threaten interna- tional bankruptcy. Now the talk is that the collected American stocks and bonds will not be sold in New York, but that England will supply herself with further funds by a new American loan, for which the col- lected securities will merely be de- posited as collateral. America expects every banker to do his duty. We have a right to buy back our own securities at the prices which this occasion will nor- mally dictate. When our own se- curities are back, we want the Brit- ish-held South American rail and industrial securities, whose posses- sion will bind South American trade to us by the strong chains of in- vestment. In exercising a choice for America, our bankers are to choose those securities which give us not weakness and uncertainty, but strength, independence and power. This is the obligation that lies on those to whom is intrusted the hand- ling and direction of our funds. Americans scorn the imputation that their bankers get 2 per cent, commission on a British loan floated and ^ of 1 per cent, on American OUR FINANCES 567 securities returned and sold in New York, and hence are led by their in- terest to prefer a British loan. We are going to trust American bank- ers to play the American game. We are going to trust them to play the game for America. — April 4, 1916. WHAT A HARRIMAN MIGHT DO Since the Stock Exchange re- opened in December, 1914, a stream of foreign-owned American securi- ties has poured into the United States to be marketed. According to the report of the Loree commit- tee, the amount of railroad stocks and bonds remaining in foreign hands on July 1, 1915, was slightly in excess of $2,200,000,000 par value and $1,700,000,000 market value. Between December, 1914, and July, 1915, the railroad securi- ties liquidated by foreigners aver- aged about $124,000,000 per month. If this average has been maintained for the last thirteen months the amount remaining abroad is about $600,000,000. Outside of United States Steel, the foreign holdings of American industrials are negligible. The books of the Steel Corporation show 625,- 254 shares of the common held in Europe on June 30, 1916, against 1,285,636 on March 31, 1914— a re- duction of more than one-half. There is one property for which the foreigners have had a pro- nounced preference for many years. That is Canadian Pacific. The ownership of Canadian Pa- cific has been distributed widely. England had a lot of it. So did Germany. So did Holland and Switzerland. The foreigners had perhaps 60 per cent, of all the shares outstand- ing. Canadian holdings were mod- erate — perhaps 15 \>vv cent. In normal times there have been three general markets for Canadian Pacific — Montreal, London and New York. Before the war about 25 per cent, of Canadian Pacific stock was owned in the United States. What good is this ownership go- ing to do America? Isn't there a man of vision, imagination and am- bition in Wall street able to see and use for the people of this country and of Canada the tremendous pos- sibilities that attend control of this property ? In size the Canadian Pacific is the colossus of all transportation systems of the world. It is the one transcontinental line of the western hemisphere. Its mileage is almost 50 per cent, greater than that of any other railroad on earth. Its employes run into the hundreds of thousands. It owns millions of acres of "choice" land. Its string of hotels which dot Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific rank with the best man knows. It has fleets of fine steamships on the Atlantic and the Pacific. It is exempt from taxation. Its earnings are enor- mous. It pays 10 per cent, divi- dends. It could pay more. The Canadian Pacific is consid- ered and operated with the idea that it is a Canadian railroad pure and simple. How many persons appre- ciate that its mileage in the United States is more than twice as great as the whole Erie system ? Between the United States and Canada there is a wall of petty prejudice that does good to neither country. The world would be bet- ter if there were no trade restric- 568 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS tions, tariffs, customs houses and such barriers to freedom of com- merce and the good-will of people. Within the last eighteen months Canadian Pacific shares sold as low as 138 and as high as 194. In 1912 it sold at 283. Of common stock there is outstanding $260,000,000. What would a Harriman see in this magnificent property? He would see it, not Canadian alone, but Canadian and American. He would link it up with New York, with Pittsburgh, with Boston. He would open new avenues of com- merce for it to the coal fields, the steel centers and to the warm water ports. He would bring the United States and Canada into closer rela- tionship. He would break down the absurd distrust and the narrow jealousies that keep two people akin in blood, in speech and in purpose, aloof and out of common sympathy. A Harriman would make the Canadian Pacific the most potential transportation vehicle in the world. He would make it do a business not of $12,000 a mile as at present (the Pennsylvania does $43,000), but $15,000 or $18,000. Every important banking and brokerage house in Wall street has lots of Canadian Pacific. Blocks of it have been bought by thousands of investors, north, east, south and west. But of what good is American ownership so long as the holdings are scattered and no one appreciates what could be done by bringing them under one control? Wall street needs some one who can see beyond the range of com- missions and underwritings. It needs financial statesmanship. It needs brains, courage and construc- tive ability. It needs men like Har- riman, men who can see nationally and who feel nationally. For such a man or men there are opportunities such as never were pre- sented before. — Aug. 3, 1916. SECURED GOVERNMENT BONDS We are to be confronted with an interesting experiment in finance. The British and French govern- ments have jointly issued an unse- cured $500,000,000 loan in this country. Behind that loan is mere- ly the promise to pay of these two governments. It is impossible to float another unsecured loan of this type. No bankers in the country would at- tempt it; the $500,000,000 Anglo- French bonds have continually sold below the price at which the under- writers took them. Future credit of the allied gov- ernments must be based on the de- posit of securities here. The French government has arranged a loan of $100,000,000, secured by bonds of neutral countries deposited with New York bankers. The British government is to float a far larger loan in this market, secured by the deposit of great blocks of British- owned American securities, which are no longer being sold. The question is : What will be the course of the unsecured British bonds when the secured bonds are on the market? Many predicted that out of care for the fate of the Anglo-French fives the British gov- ernment would never consent to a bond issue in a form carrying that government's admission that it need- ed security beyond its own word in order to borrow money. The step of OUR FINANCES 569 the secured loan is to be taken. Financial circles will watch for the effect upon the unsecured. — Aug. 11, 1916. TO MR. VANDERLIP PERSONALLY For what you have done to pro- mote American trade, Mr. Vander- lip, you deserve every meed of praise. As president of the National City Bank you have shown ardor, courage and patriotic ambition rare in the confraternity of bankers. That was a fine conception of yours to win for your country the commerce and the good-will of Latin America. Many men have dreamed of this. It was for you to act. We know broadly of what you have done; how you have sent scores and scores of men to Brazil, the Ar- gentine, Chile, Peru, Uruguay and elsewhere to study the needs of the countries; to report as to the re- sources agricultural, financial and industrial of each section. We know you have established branches of your powerful bank in Buenos Aires and elsewhere ; that you publish and distribute gratuitously a magazine, The Americas, which has done more, perhaps, to spread accurate and valu- able information about Latin Amer- ica than any other periodical this country has had; that you have in your bank a school in which you train young men for work in the Latin-American field — in short, that you have given to this work your energy, your high intelligence and your fervid spirit. The commerce of Latin America should be ours. Geographically and logically it belongs to us, just as geo- graphically and logically the com- merce of Africa belongs to Europe. The Monroe doctrine makes us the guardian, the protector of the re- publics to the south of us so long as this nation endures. The commerce of Latin America is a glorious prize to win and hold. If you could bring it to us you would do more of material benefit to the present and future genera- tions than perhaps even you ap- preciate. But, Mr. Vanderlip, how is this possible under present conditions? You have centered your efforts in the Argentine. You know, of course, that practically every Argentine rail- road is in the hands of the British. You know, no doubt, that most of the banks, traction companies, land companies, dock companies, are con- trolled by the British. You know, assuredly, that despite the war, Great Britain is doing almost as much business in the Argentine as before the war; that the products of the Argentine are carried away in Brit- ish ships and the goods the Argen- tine imports are borne to that coun- try in British bottoms. You are too good a student, Mr. Vanderlip, to believe you can win the commerce of a country unless you command the arteries of trade — ships, railroads, banks. No doubt you expected to get the ships when your bank bought so heavily into International Mercantile Marine. But the British safeguard them- selves well. Their ships are their arms by which they reach out to the most distant lands. No doubt it was a shock to you, as it was to most Americans, to dis- cover that although the I. M. M. is an American corporation and Amer- ican-owned, the British still control its affairs to a decided degree and 570 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS have it tied in a knot which hampers it? Americanism. Yon remember that famous joker in the agreement which J. P. Mor- gan entered into when lie bought the British companies and put them in the combination. Here it is: No British ship in the association nor any ship which may hereafter be built or otherwise acquired for any British company included in the association shall be transferred to a foreign registry (.without the written consent of the president of the board of trade, which shall not be unreasonably withheld) nor be nor remain upon a foreign registry. Nothing shall be otherwise done whereby any such ship would lose its British registry or its right to the British flag. Most of the ships of the I. M. M. are under the British flag. They must remain under that tlag and all ships built to replace them must fly the Union Jack. Until we get ships — American ships — we cannot hope to get Latin America's commerce. Nor can we expect that commerce with ships alone. Europe has become estab- lished in South America by furnish- ing the money to build its railroads, its hydro-electric plants;, its traction lines, its wharves; to develop its mines, its plantations and its varied industries. The money thus in- vested has brought profit direct and indirect. We cannot with reason expect to supplant the Europeans unless we stand to South America practically in the same relation Eu- rope has stood. Great Britain is in constant need of money. So is France, Germany, Austria, Italy. Has any effort been made to acquire Europe's holdings in South America in return for the loans we have made to the warring nations ? We have poured out a world of wealth to Europe since the war be- gan. It aggregates nearly a thou- sand million dollars. Half of that sum invested in ships and in Latin American railroads, banking estab- lishments and industries would root us solidly in Latin American trade. If we can afford to lend money to the warring nations we assuredly can afford to buy from them securi- ties that will mean immeasurably more pro tit to Americans than the 5 or more per cent, interest on the war bonds. Why not, instead of lending money to the warring nations, insist that they sell to us such interests as they have in Latin American prop- erties? Why not, instead of lending our money for two or five or twenty years, buy what will bring profit to the Americans of this generation and all future generations? We must have wider markets if we are to progress. We cannot ex- pect wider markets unless we open the channels to them. Europe means to hold everything it has in its commercial control. What we get we must go after. There is no altruism in the atti- tude of nations toward trade mas- terv. Your bank has no foreign alli- ances. You are not hampered by British or German or French or Austrian influence. Your bank is American. Your power would be tremendous if well employed. Your well meant and praise- worthv effort in the Argentine will result in nothing substantial, noth- ing enduring for the American peo- ple; it will not mean more labor for American workmen, cargoes for OUR FINANCES 571 American ships, freight for Ameri- It is possible for you to lead the can railroads prosperity for Amer- way to a commercial welding of the ica s many millions unless you real- Americas. ize the basic principle upon which Will you do it 5 commerce is controlled and unless Will you play the American game you act accordingly. f or America?— Aug 17 1916 Americanism VOICES FROM THE PAST George Washington on the Euro- pean war in 1 7 11 5 : Contemplating the internal situa- tion as well as the external relations of the United States, we discover equal cause for contentment and sat- isfaction. While many of the nations of Europe * * * have been involved in a contest unusually bloody, ex- hausting and calamitous * * * in which many of the arts most useful to society have been exposed to dis- couragement and decay; in which scarcity of subsistence has embittered other sufferings; while even the an- ticipations of a return to the bless- ings of peace and repose are alloyed by the sense of heavy and accumu- lating burdens, which press upon all departments of industry ami threat- en to clog the future springs of gov- ernment, our favored country, happy in a striking contrast, has enjoyed general tranquility — a tranquility the more satisfactory because main- tained at the expense of no duty. Faithful to ourselves, we have vio- lated no obligation to others. — President Washington in his address to Congress, December 8, 1795. ica The United States of North Amer- sepa rated by the ocean * * * * * * seemed, in the present extended con- test, the only friend and guardian of the human race, despising equally * * * intrigues, menaces and aggres- sions, firmly maintaining the inde- pendency of their nation. It was a pleasing and consolatory spectacle to the world, to contemplate America * * * standing up for the defense of property, and asserting the rights of men and of nations. — .1 writer unnamed, in his Comments on the History of Europe for the Year L798; published in The Annual Register, London. 1800. Thomas Jefferson on the world tear in 1801 : Kindly separated by nature, and a wide ocean, from the exterminat- ing havoc of one-quarter of the globe, too high-minded to endure the degradations of the others; pos- sessing a chosen country, with room enough for descendants to the thou- sandth and thousandth generation; entertaining a due sense o( our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the acquisition of our own indus- try, to honor and confidence from our fellow citizens, resulting not from birth, but from our actions, and their sense of them ; enlightened by a benign religion, professed in- deed and practiced in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude and the love of man; acknowledging and adoring an over-ruling Providence, which by all its dispensations proves that it delights in the happiness of man here, and his greater happiness hereafter; with all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and prosperous people? Still AMERICANISM 573 one tiling more, fellow citizens, a wise and frugal government, which, restraining men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government; and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities. — President Jeffer- son's Message to Congress, March 9, 1801. improvement of the natural advan- tages, and a protection and exten- sion of the independent resources of our highly favored and happy coun- try. In all measures having such ob- jects my faithful co-operation will be afforded. — President Madison's Message to Congress, Dec. 5, 1815. President Madison on the Euro- pean war and tragedies in 181 ■"> : Whilst other portions of mankind are laboring under the distresses of war, or struggling with adversity in other forms, the United States are in the tranquil enjoyment of pros- perous and honorable peace. In re- viewing the scenes through which it has been attained, we can rejoice in the proofs given that our political institutions, founded in human rights, and framed for their preser- vation, are equal to the severest trials of war, as well as adapted to the or- dinary periods of repose. As fruits of this experience, and of the repu- tation acquired by the American arms, on the land and on the water, the nation finds itself possessed of a growing respect abroad, and of a just confidence in itself, which are among the best pledges for its peace career. * * * — Sept. 15, 1915. It remains for the guardians of the public welfare to persevere in that justice and good-will towards other nations which invite a return of these sentiments toward the United States, to cherish institu- tions which guarantee their safety, and their liberities, civil and re- ligious, and to combine with a lib- eral system of foreign commerce an THE RECALL OF DUMBA A sense of profound relief and approval welcomes President Wil- son's request for the recall of Am- bassador Dumba. The American government and the vast majority of the American people think in terms of America and refuse to permit the rivalries and hostilities of the Euro- pean powers to be fought out on American soil. George Washington's farewell ad- dress, advising the people of this country not to become involved in European conflicts, and President Monroe's declaration of policy known as the Monroe doctrine are principles identical in purpose with the Wilson doctrine that immigrants who enter upon industrial employ- ment in America cannot have a di- vided allegiance as between the United States and their native land. The United States and Austria- Hungary have enjoyed peculiarly friendly relations. The President's desire to maintain these friendly re- lations expresses the general feeling of the people of the United States. — Sept. 10, 1915. THE LARGER LOYALTY As the request of the President, the Austrian government has re- called its representative, Dr. Dumba. 5U THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS He will leave the United States on October 5. From a superficial view- point this controversy arose in the indiscretion of one man, but in fact it has turned on basic principles. The outcome represents a victory for the diplomacy of President Wilson and will have a far-reaching influ- ence. The President had a vision of an enlarged and nobler citizenship. To him American and American ideals are tangible, living things, potent and binding to-day and in the future, as they were in the past, up- on all. The foreigner, no matter from what land he has come to America, must accept the conditions of life and abide by the decisions made by the government of the United States. When he naturalizes and receives the vote he must accept also the obligation of an undivided loyalty that is binding upon him, even when he happens to number anions: an outvoted minoritv. We recognize it as quite legitimate for him to work to bring his views to acceptance by the majority, provid- ing that he is actuated, in casting his ballot and exerting his influence, bv the desire to promote the welfare of the United' States. The President has had through- out the war a vision of a higher and more devoted citizenship; he has held steadfastly to his course to en- force recognition of this. Due to the President's effort the United States will ask more in the future of the newcomer to our midst. Pull loyal- ty on his part will lead us to give his traditions and his outlook upon life more sympathetic consideration. "Our country!" in the words of Stephen Decatur, "our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right; but our countrv, right or wrong.'' — Sept. 29, 1915. PLOTS AND PATRIOTISM During the past four months there has been a succession of fires, explo- sions and mishaps in industries con- nected with the manufacture of munitions and other supplies for the allies. Ships at sea and on the great lakes have taken afire from mysteri- ous causes or encountered other trouble. The burning of Hopewell, rendering ten thousand people home- less and parlyzing the employes of a powder plant, is the latest incident in this chain of circumstances. Before forming an opinion, it is necessary to eliminate the fact that with suspicion in the air it is pos- sible to attribute several accidental occurrences to deliberate purposes. In some cases assupmtions have been made that afterward were demon- strated to be incorrect. Again, the powder industry as well as any other industry working under pressure be- comes extraordinarily hazardous. Taking all these fatalities in full consideration, however, there re- mains a chain of events too strong in the opinion of any unbiased ob- server to be due to accident. To make war upon American munition plants or American industries is an insult to the neutrality and the laws of the United States. The offense becomes doubly grave if perpetrated by American citizens, involving, as it does, disloyalty to our laws and in- stitutions. American neutrality must and will be maintained. Amer- ica must be able to keep in full force its laws and its protection to all upon American soil. When these are threatened the very foundations of our government are menaced. AMERICANISM 575 Looking ahead to some future date when our country may be need- ing factories and plants for its own purpose, a grave danger looms up. With our population imperfectly bound by a common national feel- ing, how could we protect our indus- trial establishments against outside meddling and destruction in time of war? The strongest protection in any of the warring countries is the solid unity of the people behind their governments. No artificial barriers, no cordon of police can take the place of an overwhelming feeling of patriotism that holds all to a common purpose. What are the present and future measures; who are the statesmen and leaders of the next decade ; what are the policies of a new nationalism that can create for us the white heat of patriotism that will fuse all the elements in this melting pot of na- tions into a solid whole? — Dec. 11, 1915. "CIVIS ROMANUS SUM" A settlement of shepherds, tend- ing their flocks on seven hills on the Apennine peninsula, reached out from their bleak home for the scepter of world dominion. For more than two thousand years civili- zation has grown and expanded upon the foundations which they laid for it. The centers of coloniza- tion which they established have remained for all that period the centers of power — political or spirit- ual — until our own day. The seven hills have become Eome, the Im- mortal. Castra Dorii — the camp of Dorius — has become Dorchester, in England. Colonia, in Germany, has become Cologne. Dacia still sur- vives; Londinium is London. Wher- ever Roman military might found standing ground in its powerful penetration of the barbarian world, great cities and lasting civilizations have grown up. Roman law, like the Roman arch, has lasted to this day and is the basis of the juris- prudence of the world. The first sign of the decadence of Rome was its failure to enforce re- spect for Romans. When the an- cient She-Wolf of the Capitoline could no longer defend her scattered whelps, her citizenship became a word without meaning — as all words are when they are not backed by deeds. Long after Roman civic and mili- tary power had disintegrated, how- ever, its very tradition was so mighty that Rome and the outlying stations of Roman administration became the center of the most ef- fective and lasting ecclesiastical sys- tem that the world has ever seen. By the beginning of the Christian era the dignity and the importance of Roman citizenship had become so overshadowing that the mere declaration by St. Paul, in the castle at Jerusalem, that he was a Roman citizen, though a Jew by race, was sufficient to cause the centurion to unloose his bonds with- out delay, and Scripture tells us that "The chief captain also was afraid after he knew that he (St. Paul) was a Roman, and because he had bound him." It was Lord Beaconsfield, the great British empire builder, a Jew like St. Paul, who said in the House of Commons : "I want the day to come when an Englishman in any part of the world can . call out as St. Paul did, T am an English 576 THE GBAVEST 366 DAYS citizen,' and find that his words compel respect, as did St. Paul's call more than nineteen hundred years ago, 'Civis Romanus sum.' " And England, following in the footsteps of Rome, has made her citizenship respected wherever an Englishman has chosen to estab- lish the home which has ever been his castle. For protective power, for the capacity to enforce respect, the phrase, "I am a British subject," has strangely come to recall that much more ancient phrase which was a Roman's shield and buckler against the menace of all the pow- ers and principalities of the then known world. All this dignity, all this weight of authority, all this sense of personal worth, was founded upon force. Be- hind the sonority of the proud an- nouncement of Roman citizenship was the muffled tramp of legions, ever audible to the consciousness of an aggressor; beneath the toga of the Roman citizen was the breast- plate; behind the word was the short, quick thrust of the hasta and the pilum. Rome's arm was long, and it never failed to reach any point on the known surface of the earth where the slightest impinge- ment was threatened upon the dig- nity of the empire in the person of any of its citizens. Only by that method did Rome succeed in elevating to a universal significance its declaration of cit- izenship. Underneath the national personality lay the skeleton struct- ure of force, giving shape and ex- pression to the national ideal — an ideal which has lasted for twenty centuries and has within it the in- spiring vigor which will make it last as long as time itself endures. — Dec. 15, 1915. IN 1776 AS NOW No study of history could be more profitable for any patriotic Ameri- can than a comparison between the problems of Washington's time and the problems which now face the nation. Washington's farewell ad- dress was delivered at the close of an epoch in history — an epoch marked by a successful attempt of a group of thirteen impoverished colonies to break the shackles which a rich and powerful nation overseas was seeking to rivet upon them. The struggle, by the qualities of heroism which it developed and be- cause of the triumph for democracy in which it culminated, furnished a new ideal to the world — an epic which was destined to influence the souls of unborn generations. The name of Washington has become not the name of an individual but a watchword of freedom wherever men think and aspire. Wherever men have revolted against tyranny, wherever they have- unfurled the flag of liberty, there the name of Washington has been breathed ar- dently as the synonym and motto of the cause of human rights. Washington belongs, not to Amer- ica, but to the world. And back of the splendid achieve- ment which ultimately gave a new nation and a new ideal to civiliza- tion there is burned into the an- nals of America a record of failure, of heart-breaking disappointment, of defeats suffered where victories should have been won — because the American people failed, in the first, the second and even the third in- stance, to learn the lesson of pre- paredness. The references by the Father of His Cauntry to the diffi- culties which encompassed him are AMEEICANISM 577 replete with reflections, sometimes tinged with bitterness, which show how and to what extent the colonies suffered in the struggle with Britain because of their tardiness in grasp- ing the essential truth that the time to prepare for defense is not when the enemy's foot is upon our soil but long before he has marched across our borders. In Washington's epoch, as in our day, there were men in the legisla- tive halls of the nation who relied upon some divine frenzy of patriot- ism, upon some happy conjunction of events, to win the liberties of the people and to prevent the triumph of the enemy. In Washington's epoch, as in our own day, there were hectic idealists who denounced as enemies of democracy the men whose vision and knowledge pointed out the in- evitable conclusion that the time to prepare for war is in time of peace. In our own day, as in Washing- ton's time, the cause of liberty upon this continent is menaced by external foes. These foes have learned the lessons of events. They have per- fected, or are perfecting, vast re- sources of offense and defense. America, expanding by leaps and bounds since Washington's day, has become the richest, the most pro- ductive — and the least defended na- tion on earth. In Washington's administration America was sufficient unto itself. Its commercial interests, confined to the production of a small output of raw products, impinged upon the in- terests of no other power. To-day American interests — the very wages of our workers — are so bound up at innumerable points of contact and pressure with the interests and the wages of other peoples that the firing of a gun across the Danube has become a local event here, an event affecting every American wage-earner, every American capi- talist, every woman and child de- pendent upon an American. And under these vastly changed conditions the advocates of hap- hazard methods are still urging de- pendence upon a divine frenzy, upon some happy conjunction of events, to safeguard the independence and the honor of the country which Washington bequeathed to posterity as one of the great moral achieve- ments of all time. The lesson which Washington sought to teach has not penetrated the consciousness, has not touched the hearts, of a large number of his countrymen. — Feb. 22, 1916. INJUSTICE TO MR. PUTNAM Last night at a meeting in Car- negie Hall, engineered by the "American rights comittee," in the interest of bringing America into the war on the side of the allies, George Haven Putnam was explaining that the British govern- ment was the most beneficent on eartb. He was interrupted by what the morning papers call a Teuton asking "What about the Boer re- publics and Egypt?" The inter- ruption was unfortunate and rude. But, once it occurred, the police should not have hustled the inter- rupter from the hall. They should have allowed Mr. Putnam to an- swer, as no doubt he would have done. His answer would have done a service to the British cause in America. The interrupter may even have been a perfectly good American, asking an honest question. Our own American experience in 1776, THE GRAYEST 366 DATS 181)3 and 1861-5 did no1 overcome ua with the conviction of England's supremo beneficence, 'Many detrac- tors o\' England say that wo have proof in recent years that she has not changed, proof in Egypt, Trans- vaal, ami in the more recent parti- tion o( Persia between Russia ami England. Hence, it was a shattered oppor- tunity for those presenting the Brit- ish side in the war when the police ejected the disturber ami so pro- vented Mr. Putnam from answering his question. It is to he hoped thai this answer will he given at the next public meeting o\' the "American rights committee." — Mar. 11, 1916. MINDING ONES OWN BUSINESS We are getting just a little weary of foreigners telling us how to man- age both our external and our in- ternal affairs. Andrew Bonar Law. British colonial secretary, occupies a full page in a Sunday paper warn- ing us of the menace of a German invasion and reminding us that a German victory in Europe would mean an attack on the United States. It is. therefore, to our su- preme interest to have Britain now defeat Germany. After all. it is our own worry, and possibly we are doing our own thinking. "We recall very vividly the British rage at Col, Roosevelt for telling them how to manage Egypt. It rushes to the mind that England must need all the con- structive thinking that A. Bonar Law can turn out. His country is paying him $25,000 per year, pre- sumably to look out for it> interests. He neglects his duty when he de- votes his working hours to the elab- oration o\' a foreign policy for the United States. Why in 1016 should we accept a direction o\' our destiny from the source which we repudi- ated in 1776: And why at this crisis of history should we turn for advice to the country which is most ecre- giouslv mismanaging its own for- eign affairs?— M arch 30. 1916. UPHOLD THE LAW American history has proved that partisanship ceases at the water's edge. It should also prove that dissension ends at the statute hook. The law is the hasis of civilization and o( the state. Until it is changed it must he respected by all citizens, no matter what their views on extraneous issues. Any other path would lead into the wilderness of anarchy — and the wilderness of an- archy borders upon the abyss of de- struction. If a group of citizens, or aliens living under our laws, have seen tit to defy those laws and endanger public safety by acts of violence against property destined for for- eign ports, they should he dealt with rigidly under the laws which they have outraged. That this property took the form of munitions of war supplied to powers with which these citizens are not in sym- pathy, does not alter the case in the least. We must have public order, and the hand that strikes at public order strikes at the dignity and the sovereignty of the republic. — April 15, 1016.' AN INCITEMENT TO WAR A group of American citizens. including such distinguished men AMERICANISM 579 as William Roscoe Thayer, Morton Prince, Bliss Perry and Josiah Royce, are issuing simultaneously to-day in America, England and France a remarkable manifesto which deserves the careful scrutiny of every American. It is entitled an "Address to the People of the Allied Nations." It pledges to the entente powers the "sympathies and hopes'' of "an overwhelming majority of the American people." It is, in ef- fect, an appeal to the American peo- ple to take up arms for the cause of the entente nations and an assur- ance to the entente that the Ameri- can people would follow that course if they only had their way. The authors of this manifesto show a remarkable freedom from doubt as to the complete soundness of their conviction that Great Brit- ain and her allies are 100 per cent, right in their aims and their meth- ods, and the central powers and their allies 100 per cent, wrong in their purposes and the manner in which they are carrying on the war. There is no twilight region in the minds of these leaders in science, education, art, letters and the law. There is no room for compromise in their reasoning, no possibility of a suspicion that there might be a scin- tilla of justice in the attitude of Germany, no limit to their "horror and detestation of the methods em- ployed by the Teuton confederates." "The conscience of the American people," say the authors of this as- stonishing document, "cries out and protests against outrages upon civi- lization" committed by the enemies of the entente powers, and "against their methods of warfare that break the international laws of nations and the moral laws of humanity." Germany must be brought to in- ternational justice, announce the manifestants. Only such an event, in their opinion, could save the "tot- tering pillars of international law." They say no word of restoring Eng- land's respect for that law. They neglect to state that since August 20, 1914, there has been in effect a British blockade against our exports to Germany and a semi-blockade against the neutral countries of Europe, in flat violation of the law of nations. They give no intimation that this illegal blookade was an attempt by Britain to starve the German nation, an attempt which has been thwarted only by the prompt action of the German gov- ernment in confiscating breadstuffs, and, through their gradual distribu- tion, conserving the lives of its peo- ple. The manifestants fail to mention that the submarine warfare against merchant vessels did not start until February 18, 1915, and was ad- mittedly a measure of retaliation against the British starvation plan. They do not set forth that in Feb- ruary, 1915, we asked England to give up her starvation plan, and asked Germany to stop using her undersea craft against merchant- men. Germany agreed, England re- fused. The authors of this manifesto by some chance neglect to state that Germany has, at our instance, modi- fied her sweeping intention to tor- pedo all British carriers of food- stuffs. Now she exempts unarmed, passenger liners. She stands ready to exempt merchant steamers as soon as England will disarm them. At the same time no success has crowned our efforts to remove the British blockade. The British an- swer to our note asking her to join 580 THE t! WAY F.ST -MW PAYS Germany in a retain to law was a now order in council of March 11. 1915, which blockaded our imports from Germany and our exports of cotton, just as her previous meas erus had blockaded all our exports except cotton. The manifesto fads to explain that the difficulty in our present negotia- tions with Germany is entirely due to the failure of England to go a single step toward settling what America recognized as a joint issue. A few days ago the German chan- cellor renewed his promise that Ger- many would stop her submarine war if England stopped her blockade. Two days later Lord Cecil said Eng- land would not renounce her starva- tion campaign no matter what Ger- many did. In securing immunity of unarmed British passenger liners — the only British vessels on which Americans have any business to be. in these days — we have reached the limit of one-sided concessions. Those who represent England as 100 per cent, right also overlook the fact that, in the words of our gov- ernment, we have been assuming an attitude of neutrality to Germany ever since March 30, 1915. On thai date we wrote England denying the locality of her blockade. We went on : Rut oven though a blockade should exist and the doctrine ot" contraband as to uubloekaded territory be rigidly en- fotved. innocent shipments may be freely transported to and from the United States through neutral countries to bel- ligerent territory without being subject to the penalties of contraband traffic or breach of blockade, much less to deten- tion, requisition or confiscation. And no claim on the part of Great Britain of any justification for interfer- ing with these clear rights of the United States and its citizens as neutrals could be admitted. To admit it would be t<> assume an attitude of unneittrality to- ward the present enetnies of Great Brit- ain icltieh tcould be obrioush/ ineonsist- ent with the solemn obligations of this oovernment in the present eireumstanees. If the self-appointed spokesmen of America will study our diplomatic, correspondence they will learn the true source of the embarrassment in which Washington finds itself. For over a year our country lias been put in a position of un- neutrality toward Germany by the operation of an unlawful blockade. Until \\c take some successful steps toward removing that blockade and regaining our neutrality, we cannot consistently force the total abolition of a submarine campaign which the blockade induced in Germany as a reprisal. Let no one light-heartedly assume that a diplomatic break will not mean war. A break will take out of the hands of the German and Amer- ican governments the control which each now has over its press. The jingoes in both countries will run wild. As there will be no channels of diplomacy, intercourse or explan- ation left between the two countries the wildest lies will spread unre- strained and unrest rainable. Finally, one country or the other will yield to the clamor of the mob and war will bo upon us. And such a tragic consummation of events is the desire of these pas- sionate manifestants, who would im- pose upon Germany all the restraints of law and confer upon England complete immunity from any law. — April 17, 1910. AMERICA FIRST The relations between the United State* and Germany are nearer the breaking point than ever before. AMERrOANLSM 581 The President has taken a stand from which there is apparently no possihle recession. Germany must yield to America or diplomatic rela- fciona helween the two nations must cease — with possibly even graver consequent There is only one course open to American citizens if this crisis • diim's. It is no time to continue discussion of the merits of the con- troversy. Every American must place his country's interests above all other considerations and loy- ally give to the nation his unwav- ering patriotic support. Lei us formulate the things that represent America's highest pur- pose in definite terms so that we may have before us clearly the ends For which our power and our moral influence will be exerted. A clear and definite statement of the ob- jects which we seek in tangible terms that can be embodied in the peace negotiations is needed. Then let us all unite for them so that America may stand as a potent in- fluence for the right. This is the only course. May our country emerge from the heat of this crisis as a nation integrated and unified from ocean to ocean so that it shall stand one in heart and one in purpose. — April 19, 1916. BUILDING THE IDEAL NATION Nicholas Murray Butler, in his address before a distinguished body of editors at the annual luncheon of the Associated Press, drew a vivid picture of the problems and the opportunities before this coun- try. And chief of these problems, because basic, is the upbuilding of a nation. In the opinion of this eminent Indent of history and of men and events, America is still struggling with the initial task of its existence. It is not yet a na- tion. After tracing the discords and the difficulties that hampered the colonists in their early struggle, Dr. Butler said: The result: was that there grew up here, not a nation, but the material out of which a nation could be made. There is a sense, a deep and striking sense, in which the same remains absolutely true to-day. There is not yet a nation, but tho rich and fine materials out of which a true nation can be made by the archi- tects wild vision to plan and by the builder with skill adequate to execute. No country in the history of the world ever had the opportunity for building up an ideal nation that this country still has. The hun- dred million people who inhabit America represent the best blood of Europe, it- best traditions, its high- est achievements. This blood, these traditions and these achievements constitute a heritage which no other country ever had in the annals of civilization. We have the respect for law, the uncompromising devotion to duty, the rugged energy which character- izes the English stock at its best. We have the power of organiza- tion, the habit of foresight, the idealization of country as the ob- ject of the endeavor and the loyalty of every citizen which has been so marked a feature of German char- acter. We have the artistic instincts, the lightness of spirit, the keen power of analysis, the dash and the thrift which are a heritage of the Latin since the dawn of history. We have the sturdy honesty of 582 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS the Scandinavian, the optimistic en- terprise of the Irish and the plod- ding industry of the Slav. And we have the deep religious sense, the idealism, the constructive force and the inflexible purpose of the Jew. All these strains of blood and of genius, which at one time or an- other have been the dominant forces of civilization, are ours in the aggre- gate. Why are we not a nation? The most serious mistake which the architects in this unparalleled task of nation-building have made is suggested by the assumption that the salvation of this country lies in the maintenance of the ideals which were brought from Europe by the vanguard of this great army of population. To this phase of the problem of nation-building Dr. But- ler, after pointing to the influx of various race-stocks that has marked the growth of America, referred as follows : With this heterogeneous immigration there came, in no inconsiderable meas- ure, the echo of the old world animosi- ties and feuds and hates. These did not manifest themselves in any direct sense as anti-American, but they did manifesl themselves with sufficient strength t<> de- prive America of a unity of attitude, of feeling and of policy in dealing with in- ternational relations which every day grew in importance and in significance. What are the causes of these manifestations of disunity? Chiefly an unsympathetic attitude on the part of the earlier comers into the great American commonwealth to- ward the ideals, the aspirations and the habits of mind of the later comers. Rome, in the highest peri- od of her imperial power, raised up the ideals of her subject races, as represented by their gods, in her shrine. The Eternal City became the temple of all the peoples over whom she ruled. America should recognize in sim- ilar fashion the best that is in all the civilizations from which she has drawn her vast host of recruits. Every race that enters into the com- position of the country should be made to feel that the best and the noblest of its traditions and its feel- ings has been made a part of our moral and political fabric. Then even' race within our boundaries would feel that it has an equal standing in what President Wilson has called a "universalized nation." Switzerland is made up of three races. On a smaller scale the dif- ficulties that might have been ex- pected to retard and complicate the problem of achieving national unity in the sturdy Helvetian republic may be taken as a good example of those that America has encountered. But in Switzerland such difficulties do not exist. No race has attempted to enunciate to the two others: "You will think and feel as I do, or I shall put you down as a hyphen- ate, a traitor and a foe to the coun- try." The result is that Switzerland, despite its heterogeneous racial make-up, is an absolutely united country, as has been demonstrated in inspiring fashion by the unanim- ity with which its people have ral- lied to its defense in the present crisis. When our architects and our builders follow the example of Switzerland the forces of disunion which are hampering the develop- ment of America will vanish We will have a united nation — not an Anglo-Saxon nation, or a German nation, a French nation or a Slavic nation, but an AMERICAN" NA- AMERICANISM 583 TION. And it is not yet too late to achieve that splendid triumph of nation-building. — April 27, 1916. THE SENSE OF HUMOR And now Lord Sydenham, mem- ber of the British government, tells us what we should think on the world issues confronting America. We have heard from A. Bonar Law, British minister for the colonies, that our safety depends on the suc- cess of the allies. Perhaps Mr. Law sent us gratuitous information be- cause we were a British colony a hundred and fifty years ago, and Mr. Law is not well versed in more re- cent history. Recently "a high British official" gave out the discon- certing news that Germany was pushing the attack on Verdun in order to force an early peace and have its army free to attack the United States. Sunday Lord Syden- ham threw a third bomb into our bucolic sense of security. His lord- ship says that the fate of the Mon- roe doctrine hangs on a victory for the allies. How very, very kind of them all, to take time away from the pressing problems of their own countries and tell us what is best for ours. But these English statesmen run the risk of convincing us that the upper classes in England have no sense of humor. Think of these men posing as disinterested advisers to the United States ! They must be pos- ing as disinterested, for if their ad- vice is in the interest of England, it is an insult. There are other Englishmen de- void of a sense of the ridiculous po- sition they put themselves in, when they solemnly advise us the course we should steer. Some of them are professional peace advocates. For example, G. Lowes Dickinson. Mr. Dickinson, under the auspices of the World Peace Foundation, gave a lecture at New York University on the subject of the "League to En- force Peace." Among other things, he dissuaded the United States from building a large navy. He said that the difference between England and Germany arose when Germany be- gan her navy programme. Up to that moment, nobody had hated Germany. Therefore, he said, the United States should not herself en- ter the navy-building business and risk a similar estrangement with England. It is all so naive. Mr. Dickinson is a British subject who cannot be blind to the terrific value to Britain of its navy in this war. Speaking as the representative of the Ameri- can World Peace Foundation, he tells Americans that they ought not to covet sea power, lest it bring them, like the Germans, into con- flict with the owners of the seas. Fortunately, the President feels differently. In St. Louis on Feb- ruary 4 he said: Tn ere is no navy in the world which has to cover so great an area, an area of defense, as the American navy. It ought, in my judgment, to he incompa- rably the greatest navy in the world. If we have a navy such as the President wants, no foe can land on this hemisphere. President Wilson proposes to take care of Lord Syden- ham's anxiety about the Monroe doctrine. Think of the rich field of con- structive statesmanship open to all these Englishmen in their own land. Tbe energy devoted to our welfare might solve the Irish problem, keep India quiet, eliminate the subma- 584 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS rine menace, settle all labor troubles and save the British empire. More- over, since 1776 we have done our own thinking and managed our own affairs. We might be allowed to continue this course a little longer. But the humorous contributions to the ghastly literature of the period are not confined to English minds. The World's Court, Inc., of which the principles have been enunciated by ex-President Taft, is distinctly humorous in one of its as- pects. The humor lies in the as- sumption that the world's frontiers as they now stand have been ir- revocably fixed by divine decree, as it were, and that the duty of inter- national justice is to maintain the existing arrangement. If that be the function of inter- national justice, what is to become of the races which are the victims of oppression, owing to the presence of foreign masters by might of con- quest ? Would Mr. Taft venture the dictum that what is is right ? Surely no more preposterous principle than that was ever advanced by the most immoral and hidebound statesman of Europe in his most cynical mood. —May 4, 1916. PRO-AMERICA The other night in a New York restaurant there was enacted a strange American scene symbolical of our country to-day. The orchestra played "Tipper- ary." Instantly from nearly half the guests came hand-clapping, which grew into wild applause and cheers. It was the sort of reception that "Tipperary" might have re- ceived in London. The demonstration was no sooner started than it was answered by a counter-demonstration. There were hisses and cat-calls and groans. It was the sort of reception that "Tip- perary" might expect in Berlin. The mingled uproar was so loud that the music could not be heard. Not long after, the unhappy or- chestra played "Die Wacht am Rhine." The "Tipperary" scene was repeated. Those who cheered now hissed and those who hissed now cheered. Men glared at each other. The question asked itself : Is this America and are these Americans, generating mutual distrust and dis- sension in behalf of the participants in a foreign war? What are Tip- perary and the Ehine to us? Nobody thought of playing the "Star Spangled Banner" or of ask- ing for it. Men's minds were intent, not upon what united them, but upon what separated them. The incident was a type and sym- bol of America to-day. We have been so busy taking sides with alien belligerents that we have no time or energy to look after ourselves and our common welfare. We are so busy being pro-ally or pro- German that we are not heeding the call to unite as pro-Americans only for the protection of our own interests. The hour is late, but not too late, to change. We are following the paths that lead to participation in this war and to civil strife at home. Who cares to come back with us to America?— May 18, 1916. A DIVIDED NATION One of the foremost men of the republic asked the question the other day, "Is America a nation?" Then AMEKICANISM 585 he proceeded to answer by proving it was not. Let us face the facts. The great- ness of the British nation dates from Cromwell. He welded and unified the diverse and discordant elements of the British Isles into one body. Before his time Scotch and Welsh, north and south and east and west English were slit into factions, each with its own jealous and selfish in- terests. Not until they were amal- gamated, knit with a national spirit to a common purpose, did Britain grow into a world power. The lit- erature, wealth, progress of Britain began with Cromwell's work. While Germany was a federation of twenty-five states, each with its own set of laws, its own distinct coinage, its separate army, its own courts, its own schools and its own dialect, it was the battleground of Europe. Through the genius of Bismarck Germany was unified. Of all his acts nothing, perhaps, was more effective than the codification of the laws. With the German states consolidated the German na- tion was born and a new spirit ani- mated the people. Then followed the most remarkable and rapid de- velopment in history. From a land poor and a people poverty-stricken Germany became one of the richest of the earth. From a group of states whose influence upon the world was negligible united Ger- many became a world power. Sci- ence, literature, industry and agri- culture developed amazingly. With the end of petty conflict came new forms of organization and produc- tiveness. The spirit of nationaliza- tion gave to Germany an ideal for which every German citizen was willing to strive and, if necessary, to die. America to-day is the richest country on the face of the globe. It has one-third of the wealth of the world. It is a giant in size, an em- pire within itself. In material re- sources it has treasures of illimitable possibilities. But with all its rich- ness, greatness and inherent strength it is made weak, cumbrous, un- wieldy and inefficient by its folly. The present is one of the most critical periods in its life. We are prone to think the conflict across the sea will cripple the nations of Eu- rope. We are deceiving ourselves. Within the last two years Europe has advanced more than in the pre- ceding generation. War has forced upon the nations an organization, a s} r stem, an assembling of national energy beyond anything ever known. This is a potential power of tremen- dous force. What it may mean if given direction against America commercially is of vital concern to Americans. To-day our conflict of laws brings the law into contempt. In the forty- eight states are radical divergences on such fundamental issues as mar- riage, education and responsibility of parent to child. A man divorced in one state may remain married in another. What is bigamy in one state is not in another. The moral and educational conditions of life have a most intense relationship with the economic welfare of the people. The more moral the people, other things being equal, the more effective they are as economic agents. The sounder they are in moral char- acter as a whole, the greater - their strength in the production of na- tional wealth. Bad as is the conflict in laws re- garding moral questions, it is worse in relation to business. The people 586 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS of one state which regulates child- labor, hours of toil and protection of women workers must compete with states where child labor is unrestrict- ed and where hours of toil are un- regulated. Laws regarding deeds, contracts, mortgages, etc., differ in almost every state. The American business concern which would op- erate on a national scale must have a legal department to advise it of its rights and privileges in the various states. Heavy as is the direct burden and much as it hinders expansion of trade, the effect it has in destroying respect for the law is more serious, and industry and enterprise are in thralls. The spirit of nationalism is ab- sent in Congress. A representative or senator has mere interest in ap- propriations for the "improvement"'* of creeks and the spending of huge sums on federal buildings in his dis- trict than on the passage of laws for the benefit of the republic at large. All questions from national defense to the tariff and the pension roll are viewed in their local aspect. Of statesmanship that means broad patriotism there is little. Of politics that mean plunder there is much. What the absence of nationalism means in waste, inefficiency and neg- lect is incalculable. It affects every branch of industry, every home and every person. Not until the forty- eight states now loosely joined and each jealous of its state rights are as one in national spirit, national or- ganization and national form will the United States be truly the United States. And not till then will America be really strong or safe or know the impulse that makes a people really great. Building a nation is the task be- fore us. This week the Eepublican and Progressive parties decide upon the leader who is to undertake the great work. — June 5, 1916. THE GERMAN PROPAGANDA AND THE PRESIDENCY By S. S. McClure ROOSEVELT BEATEN, SAY PRO- GERMANS. Metz. Viereck and Others Are Quoted as Saying That Propagandists Killed His Chances. Special to the New York Times. Chicago, 111., 'Wednesday, June 7. — The Chicago Herald this morning prints the following dispatch from New York slating that the New York Evening Mail will print it this afternoon : "We have beaten Roosevelt, and we will beat any other candidate who takes Roosevelt's position on foreign affairs." A prominent officer of the German- American Society, known throughout the country, declared that "this would be a lesson to American politicians who be- lieved they could ignore the German vote. "If the Republicans will nominate Hughes or some one like him, and if the candidate will come out squarely on the issue that we have just as much right to quarrel with England as with Germany, he will get the German-American vote, and he will be elected." 'Suppose the Republican candidate should decline to place the Lusitania and England's interference with neutral trade on the same level?" he was asked. 'Then he will not get the German- American vote," was the reply. "The point that I am making is that we Ger- man-Americans have proved that we have to be reckoned with in American politics. We are going to stand together and see fair play. (Extract from New York Times, June 7, 1916.) George Sylvester Viereck, editor of the pro-German weekly, "Fatherland," talked of the situation at great length. "1 am glad of it," he said, meaning the report that Col. Roosevelt had been AMERICANISM 587 defeated for the nomination by the Ger- man-American propaganda. "The German-Americans set out to beat Roosevelt for the nomination and I don't see how any one can blame them. But please understand we are not against Roosevelt because he is not pro-German, but because he is rot pro-American." As an old editorial hand I've been accustomed to sense public opinion; to judge "atmospheres," states of mind, etc. After spending several months in many warring and neutral countries of Europe, I found out that the impression one forms of Ger- many and the German people from the pro-German propaganda and conspiracies in America is a totally false impression. It would be im- possible to estimate the harm that Germany has suffered in the esteem of the American people from the so- called German propaganda. It gives a totally wrong conception of what the people are like. The greatest enemy Germany has had in forming American public opinion is the men who have engaged so actively now to defeat Mr. Roosevelt. I was in Germany during the days in which the German government was considering the reply to the Sus- sex note. It was one of the most se- rious periods in Germany since the beginning of the war. During these days the men especially burdened with the responsibility of govern- ment and with answering the Sussex note first learned vividly the signifi- cance of the pro-German activities in America and how much harm had been done to Germany in American public opinion. But the harm done to Germany by the propaganda of the past will be slight compared to the harm done by such statements as head this col- umn. I have known Germany and the Germans many years. I have known France and the French, and I have known England and the Eng- lish. I can truly say that my heart is with all these peoples. I try to see things as they will appear years hence. I know, for instance, that the German Chancellor and the Kaiser wished to avoid this war. I know that England worked wisely, and to the utmost to avoid the war. At this moment Von Bethmann- Hollweg is defending himself and his government for delaying for days the declaration of war against Rus- sia — delaying it at a time when all Germany feared the impending Rus- sian armies. He is also defending his submarine policy as against the Von Tirpitz policy. The character of the man is shown in these two matters. No attacks on Germany can harm Germany a fraction as much as the new development of the German propaganda in regard to the presi- dency. No other man in the United States has Mr. Roosevelt's compe- tence in dealing with the pressing problems of economic and industrial development and organization. No other man more keenly senses the human side of man's daily labor and needs. But it is in the larger relations of the civilized world where Mr. Roose- velt's greatest usefulness lies. Sometime during the next presi- dency the Great Peace will be made. The character and permanence of that peace will be greatly influenced by the part played by the United States. In dealing with the world questions — the greatest questions since the dawn of history, the United States will serve humanity well, or ill, in accordance with the character and ability of its chief magistrate. I believe that Mr. Roosevelt has 588 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS the vision, right mindedness, knowl- edge and power to enable the United States to render a service to human- ity commensurate with the need of the time and the greatness of our country. I speak as one who loves equally the warring and suffering peoples of Europe. — June 7, 1916. NO HALF-MEASURES Some far-seeing men. realize the deplorable international situation in which our country finds itself to-day. Our national spirit has been weak- ened. Our failure to insist upon American rights has broken down all respect for our government in its diplomatic intercourse. One con- crete example of the larger problems that loom ahead is the increasing menace of the Mexican situation. To some who see clearly — Col. Eoose- velt among them — this situation ap- pears so dangerous that it calls for the subordination of all internal dif- ferences in favor of a union of all nationally-minded forces to take the government out of the hands of the Democrats. They have proved them- selves incompetent to operate the machinery of government. If the crisis is such as to actually imperil our national position there must be no half-way measures. All forward-looking Americans must lend their full strength to the com- mon effort. They must do more than merely give Hughes a chance. It is the duty of every one of us who senses the danger to throw his full strength into the effort to bring about the defeat of the Democrats at the polls next November. For all who join in this struggle for a stronger American nationalism there must be fairness and a real truce to all former animosities. There is a duty upon many outside of Eepubli- can ranks to join in supporting Mr. Hughes whole-heartedly, but there is also an obligation upon those within the Eepublican party to anpreciate and respect, by fair play, the spirit in which these new supporters come to help them to victory. On this basis only can there be whole-hearted union and a sweeping victory in November. — June 14, 1916. GOD'S COUNTRY The greatness, the beauty, the many and varied resources of each state in the Union find a striking illustration in the local patriotism, sometimes the provincialism, of its citizens. Go back to your home in Minne- sota and they all congratulate you on being "in God's country." again. You are reminded that it has 10,000 lakes and the most beautiful climate in the world, that it is the greatest spring wheat state in America, that its educational institutions are un- approached, and that there is no- where such an equitable distribution of wealth, such general prosperity, so much happiness. St. Paul and Minneapolis, it seems, produce every article of which the human mind has yet formed a conception, and they are in imminent danger of becoming the manufacturing center of the United States. The prodigal son from New York is welcomed with that heartiness due to one escaped from that babel of noise, flats, subways, elevated rail- roads and robber restaurants. They cannot be convinced that this is the AMERICANISM 589 outer shell of New York. Why, they have been there, they have been through it. New York is a good place for visiting, but as for living there ! Nor is this peculiar to Minnesota. The same attitude prevails in Cali- fornia and Virginia; and in New York itself, with respect to other parts of the country. Though we think it queer that people should want to live in other states, we do not think they are queer themselves. They are all Americans like us, and we know it. That is what distinguishes nationalism from internationalism. Foreigners live in strange countries and they are strange themselves. They are not like us. Travel, unrestricted trade, intermarriage, the news service, have served to break down the barriers between individuals in the same country. The same forces were at work to break down the barriers be- tween individuals in different coun- tries when this war broke on us. This is the saddest and most des- perate aspect of the war. Its loss of life, its destruction of property, its heritage of debt are nothing when compared with the heritage of hate and the new trade barriers which will for a long time suppress the factors that have made for interna- tional civilization, mutual under- standing and peace. Those citizens of neutral countries who allow themselves to be obsessed by the hate and revenge that fill the hearts of belligerents in no way aid in the solution of the conflict. They are merely piling up obstacles in the way of those who, when the war is over, will have to set about repairing the worst of the damage it has done. —July 10, 1916. AMERICA'S EMPIRE OF BEAUTY America is slowly awakening to the value of a tremendous asset. It is an asset of surpassing beauty as well as of unlimited financial possibilities. For many years Swit- zerland, with its mountains, lakes and valleys, has served as the play- ground of the old world. Between the Atlantic and the Pacific we have twenty Switzerlands. Part of this heritage of beauty lies within sight of the skyscrapers of New York. The Palisades can be reached in half an hour from the ferry house at West 130th street. The most remote of America's Switzerlands — Mount Rainier, in the State of Washington — is a week's journey from the Atlantic coast. Only a small fraction of the American people have any inkling of the wide variety, the surpassing grandeur and the inspiring power of the masterpieces which Nature has strewn about this continent in the mighty upheavals of its birth pangs. They surpass anything that Europe has to show. A German professor who was visiting New York just before the war spoke to his host with enthusiasm of the beauty of the Rhine-banks. "Have you seen the Palisades?" asked his host. "I have not," answered the German professor. After the vistor had been taken up the river in a yacht by his host, he said in an awed voice: "I shall never speak again of the Rhine — in America." America and the world have agreed upon Niagara as the father of waterfalls. It is a well-deserved distinction. With the possible ex- ception of "Victoria falls, on the Nyanza, Niagara is the most spec- 590 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS tacular demonstration of falling waters in the world. But we have in America other waterfalls that dwarf the Niagara. The Great Falls of the Yellowstone, a part of the National Park system, is twice as high as Niagara. The Yosemite Upper Fall, in the Yosemite Na- tional Park, tumbles roaring down -a cliff nine times as high as Niagara. And the settings which Time and Nature have provided for these gigantic cataracts are of surpassing beauty that strikes the spector dumb. The world has heard much of the glories of Lake Constance, of Lake Geneva, in Switzerland; of Kil- larney, of the lochs of Scotland, of Como, in Italy. It has yet to hear of the incomparable Mirror lake, in the Yosemite National Park, fram- ing in its blue bosom the towering summit of Mount Watkins. It has yet to hear of Crater lake, the waters of mystery nestling amid the wild grandeur of mountain tops in Crater lake, National Park. It has yet to hear of the sapphire snow-fed waters of Glacier National Park. America itself has only begun to hear of these beautiful lakes. When it has heard it will spread its message through the world. Is it mountain climbing that the traveler seeks? There is the king of American mountains, Mount Whitnej'', the mighty climax of the Sierras, wbose isolated summit rises 14,500 feet above the sea. It is in the realm of perpetual snow. Glaciers have drifted for ages down its rugged slopes. Then there is Mount Rainier, rearing its silver crest 14,408 feet above tidewater at Puget sound — a land of snow-bound silence. There is Stevens glacier, a mountain of ice a thousand feet deep; the stately battlements of the Rocky Mountains and the serried cliff formations of the Grand Can- yon of the Colorado, a sort of Pali- sades on a vastly grander scale, of which John Muir wrote : "A gigan- tic statement for even Nature to make in one mighty stone word. Wildness so Godful, cosmic, prime- val, bestows a new sense of earth's beauty and size." A European poet has said that Nature in America lacks one attri- bute : human tradition that every forest, every mountain and every valley of Europe is a memorial of struggle, of suffering, of achieve- ment — and that America is lacking in these memories. Then what of our lost cities of the Mesa Verde — those cities of stone built into the sides of dizzy cliffs, which Dr. J. Walter Fewkes has helped to discover? What of the Sun Temple? What of the in- scriptions that tell of struggles, of ambitions, of joys or of disappoint- ments of unknown antiquity? What is the life story of this vanquished race — a race that has left in these ruins some of the most ancient human remains known to science? Who was the enemy who drove them into oblivion? Here is rich material for the archaeologist. Here is romance that has yet to be written. Here is appeal to the im- agination as powerful as any that is to be found in the storied places of Europe. And, speaking of antiquity, in the Sequoia National Park are the oldest trees in the world. Some of these giant trees, scientists agree, were flourishing when the Star of Bethlehem guided the wise men of the East to the lowly manger of history. Such are some of the beautiful AMERICANISM 591 and impressive things to which every American is heir, and which the Government of the United States is safeguarding for the peo- ple in perpetuity and making avail- able to the many by the construction of roads, camps and hotels. Beginning with this issue, our cartoonist, Mr. Brinkerhoff, will give from time to time an artist's im- pressions of this splendid heritage of the American people — a heritage without a parallel in the world. — Aug. 21, 1916. WANTED: A SPIRIT OF NATIONALISM England has been made great by the unity of her statesmen, her bankers, her manufacturers and her people in a national purpose. With- out large agricultural or mineral resources, she would have filled a minor role in the world's develop- ment and in world affairs had not necessity and ambition led her to reach out beyond the seas for trade. Throughout the centuries she has appreciated that commerce was the blood of life to her; that without it her industries would shrivel. To broaden her lines she has gone to the ends of the earth. Every mar- ket opened for British goods meant more work for British labor, more investment for British capital, more bills of exchange for British bank- ers, more cargo for British ships, more power and prosperity for the British. Great Britain did this despite manifold handicaps. It brought from all quarters of the globe the raw material out of which British manufacturers fashioned articles to be sold not only in nearby markets but to the people from whom the raw material was purchased. It bought cotton in America, trans- ported it thousands of miles across the seas, translated it into calico in Lancashire mills and sold the goods the world over, even to the people who grew the cotton. It bought wool in Australia and transported it half way 'round the globe, wove the wool into cloth and sent the finished goods half way 'round the globe to clothe the Australians. It bought iron ore from Sweden, France, Canada, the United States; tin from the Strait Settlements and Peru ; copper from America, Turkey and other distant lands; rubber from Brazil and the Congo, carried them in British bottoms across the seas, made them into articles of worth and utility and sold the bulk of the manufactures outside the British isles. In all this the British banker has stood behind the British manufac- turer and the British ship owner, and the British government has stood back of all three. There has been system, organization in it all and a definite policy which has been adhered to unswervingly. America is a Colossus. To-day this country commands one-third of the wealth of the world. No other nation has such agricultural and mineral resources and no nation worthy of the name, barring Rus- sia, has 100,000,000 population. No other nation has greater natural ad- vantages for industrial expansion, more of the stores of raw material within her borders to draw upon, or more of opportunity to aid in the progress of the world. But the Colossus is chained. The Colossus looks out on the western ocean and sees few but British ships; on the 592 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS Pacific and sees few but British and Japanese vessels. To the north the Colossus sees Canada bound to Britain by ties of blood and loyalty and trade. To the south the Colos- sus sees Mexico, Central America, South America, most of the repub- lics of which are financed by Eu- rope and trade ordinarily with Eu- rope by need or by preference. America will have ships on the seven seas when America knows the spirit of nationalism, and not before. Until that spirit is strong in its gov- ernment, in its bankers and in its people it cannot assume its rightful position in world commerce. Unless the spirit is awakened, the end of the war will see American goods going out in British, German, French, Italian, Austrian, Dutch, Norwegian, Greek and Spanish ships as before, and the markets now open to us gradually will close. If America is to be confined to America, as is inevitable unless this country has its channels to the mar- kets of the world, its industries must be limited sooner or later to America's needs. It cannot have trade channels unless it creates them. They can be established and ■maintained only through national effort, by unity of action by govern- ment, by bankers and by the pub- lic. Heretofore America has been suf- ficient unto itself. It has been con- cerned wholly with its internal de- velopment. It has had a plethora of natural wealth. No nation has been more favored in this respect. The lavishness of its resources has, in itself, led to overconfidence, in- difference, carelessness of the fu- ture. But no longer. The popula- tion has increased prodigiously. In- dustries have expanded as never be- fore. Nations, like men, must pro- gress or they retrograde. We must widen our markets permanently or we will suffer. We can widen our markets and hold them through na- tional effort and in no other way. Not until the manufacturer knows that every vessel that bears the Stars and Stripes on the seas is an asset for him; until the banker realizes that by aiding the farmer to increase his crops, the railroads to transport freight more econom- ically and the manufacturer to turn out more goods he is adding to his own business by creating more of trade and more of commerce, and until the statesman sees in every- thing that helps American market- ing something that demands his patriotic support will American commerce find channels of its own through which it will flow freely and permanently. We cannot open foreign markets and hold them un- less we act as a nation. The sooner the national spirit is awakened the better. If it is not stirred by the oppor- tunity of to-day — the most dazzling opportunity ever presented to a na- tion — it may be born late, as it has in other lands and to other peoples through struggle, privation and bit- ter need.— Aug. 23, 1916. THE AMERICAN RIGHTS LEAGUE We all remember the American Eights League, a spontaneous pro- test against the Litsitania horror. No American could feel alien to the league in its original purpose. To-day it has ventured on a new field. It is distributing circulars which urge us all to "write or bet- AMERICANISM 593 ter telegraph" our senators, congress- can Rights League seems now di- men, the State department, to have verted to the work of protecting the our government protest against the "rights" of another nation. — Aug. execution of Capt. Fryatt. 23, 1916. Since when did he become an American and his execution an in- ttt>ptpp nr acq fringement on "American rights"? 1±1J!j UJ*JU!.K OLAbb Once more the facts of the Fryatt . There is one thing, and one thing case: He commanded the British alone, that will save the leisure passenger steamer Brussels. A Ger- classes of this country, and that is man war vessel, a submarine, rose to abandon leisure and get to work and ordered him to stop. The war like the rest of us. The working- vessel was obeying our orders that men have it in their power — and it stop and search, and not simply they are learning their power — to destroy. Fryatt turned his vessel overturn the whole social system, to ram the warship, which barely It is a good system. It has re- escaped. For this exploit Fryatt suited in vast accumulations of ma- bore an engraved watch given him chinery and railroads, which increase by the Admiralty. On a later trip the general prosperity. The labor- Fryatt, his vessel and watch, were ing man is better off than he would captured by a German destroyer and be under any other system, taken to Zeebrugge. Fryatt was That is not the point. He would tried by a German court and con- rather be less well off and not sup- demned to death as a sniper. port in idleness and wasteful dis- Fryatt's attack on the warship de- play a whole race of parasites, prived his vessel of immunity. The There are two so-called economic Brussels became a warship, subject justifications of the capitalistic class, to torpedo destruction by a second First, through the dividends it re- German submarine — they generally ceives, it acts as agent to withhold hunt in pairs. That would have part of the product of labor and sunk innocent passengers. Instead, reinvest it in more machinery and Capt. Fryatt, alone responsible, was railroads. Labor in this generation alone punished. Germany does not is forced to contribute to the crea- deny the right of passenger vessels tion of more machinery to serve the to resist warships. She merely as- next generation. It is in this that serfs the equal right that warships our progress has consisted, shall punish such passenger vessels Second, the capitalistic class has — not to the limit of international given to it the money to develop law, but far below that limit. strong, healthy children, to give The execution of Capt. Fryatt will them travel, education, counsel and help deter captains of British pas- wide experience, that they may be senger steamers from endangering fitted for the tasks of leadership in the lives intrusted to them, just as the society which, in their youth, the summary execution of snipers supports them without labor, deters the hotheads of a captured This upper class is simply the town from bringing heavy punish- trustee of the wealth entrusted to ment on innocent civilians. its hands, to be employed in new Upon examination the old Ameri- investment or in training for serv- 594 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS ice. But when these trust funds are diverted by the trustees to sybaritic luxury aud display and when fa- vored youth is trained not to service or leadership^ but is rendered in- capable of anything but lives of still greater display and luxury — then what words can we find to de- scribe the baseness of the breach of trust ? Let the upper class search their hearts, examine their lives, count their achievements and judge wheth- er they are rendering account of the talents entrusted to them. So surely as they are not. they will be stripped of the leadership they inherited from more robust fathers, and cast out to the fate thev deserve. — Sept. 20, 1916. Political Issues; Autumn, 1916 FORMER PRESIDENT REFUSES TO ALLOW USE OF HIS NAME IN PRIMARIES OF ANY STATE Tells Henry L. Stoddard in Interview at Trinidad That Only Thought is to Arouse Americans to Unpleasant Facts and Great Responsibility — Nothing to be Gained from Present Administration, Which Offers Choice of Different Degrees of Hypocrisy. By HENRY L. STODDARD. Special Cable to The Evening Mail. Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, B. W. I., March 9. — I found Col. Roosevelt here this afternoon. He has keenly enjoyed with Mrs. Roosevelt the last days of his tour of the West Indies and appreciates with characteristic enthusiasm every point of interest on this historic island. An average of five hundred words of cable tells the daily news of the whole world to the people here, and as most of that now deals with the war zone, the amount of news information from the United States is not especially enlightening. Such as it is, however, it is greater than Col. Roosevelt has had any time since he left Sagamore Hill. It was my privilege, therefore, to give the Colonel the first news he has received of what has occurred in the political world in the United States the past month, and in particular to place before him the situation that has developed in the Presidential field. 596 DHE GRAVEST 366 PAYS COL. ROOSEVELT STATES HIS POSITION. As a result of the movement in Massachusetts to elect Roosevelt delegates In that state I submitted to Col, Roosevelt the various state- ments published by the contestants and requested him to make an authoritative statement in reference thereto, so that the country would thoroughly understand his position. Col, Roosevelt took the papers 1 submitted and after carefully studying them wrote and signed the fol- lowing statement : "I am deeply sensible of the honor conferred on me and of the good- will shown me by the gentlemen who have announced themselves as delegates to be elected in my interest in the Massachusetts Presidential primary. Nevertheless 1 must request, and I now do request and insist, that my name be not brought into the Massachusetts primaries, and 1 emphatically decline to be a candidate in the primaries of that or of any other state. Months ago I formally notified the authorities of Nebraska, Minnesota and Michigan to this effect. " 1 do not wish the nomination. "1 am not in the least interested in the political fortunes either of myself or any other man. INTERESTED ONI V IN AWAKENING AMERICA. "I am interested in awakening my fellow countrymen to the need of facing unpleasant facts. I am interested in triumph of the great prin- ciples for which with all my heart and soul 1 have striven and shall continue to strive. "1 will not enter into any tight for the nomination and 1 will not per- mit any factional tight to be made in my behalf. Indeed. 1 will go further and say that it would be a mistake to nominate me unless the country has in its mood something of the heroic -unless it feels not only devotion to ideals but the purpose measurably to re:, those ideals in action. ■ This is one oi those rare times which come only at long intervals in a nation's history, where the action taken determines the basis of the life of the generations that follow. Such times were those from l77o to 17S^, in the days of Washington, and from 1858 to 1865, in the days of Lincoln. GREAT RESPONSIBILITY IS BEFORE THE PEOPLE, "It is for us of to-day to grapple with the tremendous national and international problems of our own hour in the spirit and with the ability shown by those who upheld the hands of Washington and Lincoln. Whether we do or do not accomplish this feat will largely depend on the action taken at the Republican and Progressive national conventions next June. " Nothing is to he hoped from the present administration, and the struggles between the President and his party leaders in Congress are to-day merely struggles as to whether the nation shall see its govern- POLITICAL [SSUBS; AUTUMN, 1916 597 mental representatives adopt an attitude of a little more or a little less hypocracy and follow a policy of slightly greater or slightly less base- ness. All that they offer us is a choice between degrees of hypocrisy and degrees of infamy. " But disgust with the unmanly failure of the present admin- istration, I believe, does not, and 1 know ought not, to mean that the American people will vote in a spirit of mere protest. They ought not to, and 1 believe (hey will not, be content merely to change the present administration for one equally timid, equally vacillating, equally lacking in vision, in moral integrity and in high resolve. They should desire, and I believe they do desire, public servants and public policies signifying more than adroit cleverness in escaping action behind clouds of fine words, in refusal to face real internal needs, and in com- plete absorption of every faculty in devising constantly shifting hand- to-mouth and day-to-day measures for escape from our international duty by the abandonment of our national honor — measures due to sheer dread of- various foreign powers, tempered by a sometimes harmonizing and sometimes conflicting dread of various classes of voters, especially hyphenated voters at home. CRISIS TOO GRAVE TO MAGNIFY COUNTRY'S NEED. "We must clarify and define our policies, we must show that our belief in our governmental ideals is so real that Ave wish to make them count in the world at large and to make the necessary sacrifice in order that they shall count. Surely we, of this great republic, have a con- tribution to make to the cause of humanity, and we cannot make it unless we first show that we can secure prosperity and fair dealing among our own men and women. I believe that in a, crisis so grave it is impos- sible too greatly to magnify the needs of the country or too strongly to dwell on the necessity of minimizing and subordinating the desires of individuals. "The delegates who go to Chicago will have it in their power to determine the character of the administration which is to do or leave undone the mighty tasks of the next four years. That administration can do an incalculable amount to make or mar our country's future. The men chosen to decide such a, question ought not to be politicians of the average type and parochial outlook; still less should they be politicians controlled by sinister influence from within or without. They should be the very best men that can be found in our country, whose one great mission should be to desire in unequivocal terms for a programme of clean-cut, straight-out, national American- ism, in deeds not less than in words, and in internal and interna- tional matters alike, and to choose as their candidate a man who will not merely stand for such a programme before election, but will reso- lutely and in good faith put it through if elected. J!>8 THE BRAVEST 366 PAYS CHICAGO DELEGATES SHOULD BE PATRIOTS. "These men should be men ot rugged independence, who possess the broadest sympathy with and understanding of the needs and desires of their fellows: their loyalty should be neither to elass nor to sections, but to the whole of the United States and the people that dwell therein. They should be controlled by no man and no interest, and their own minds should be open, "June is a long way olT. Many things may occur between now and then. It is utterly impossible to say now with any degree of certainty who should be nominated at Chicago. The crying, the vital need now is that the men who next June assemble at Chicago from the forty-eight States and mingle the view of the entire country shall aet with the sane and lofty devotion to the interest of our nation as a whole which was shown by the original Continental Congress. They should approach their task unhampered by any pledge except to bring to its accomplish- ment every ounce of courage, intelligence and integrity they possess. March 9, 1916. "THEODORE ROOSEVELT." THEODORE ROOSEVELT By s. s. MciM.ruF There is talk that the German- American vote prefers Hughes, be- cause he has said nothing against Germany. For this reason he is. the report goes, te he preferred to Wil- son, who is accused of unneutrality in the war. and preferred to Roose- velt, who has said unkind things of certain moves of the German mili- tary abroad and of professional German trouble makers in our own country. There is no German-American vote. Before a German can vote in this count rv of ours and his, he he- comes a naturalized citizen, fore- swears allegiance to any land hut America, ami takes the oath to cleave to this country. There is a vote o( Americans who used to he Germans or British or Irish, just as there is a large vote o( men who used to he children. But if thev had not ceased being children they could not vote at all. What is this Americanism which Americans who used to be Germans are called to support? It is a ruth- less insistence that foreign nations respect our rights and our sover- eignty What a spectacle we are before the world to-day! We sent our first note to England on Decem- ber 26, EM \. We arc still corre- sponding. We sent our first note to Germany en February 4. 1915. Whether or not we are through cor- responding, no one knows. It is a spectacle that no American, no mat- ter what his land of birth, can en- dure for the land of his citizenship. The same spectacle is presented in Mexico and in our dealings with Japan — impotence, dishonor, con- tempt abroad and lack of self-re- spect at home. What in. these past two years ^}o We regret, deplore and — in our hearts — know that we are respon- POLITICAL ISSUES; AUTUMN, 1916 599 sible for? Consider only Belgium, the Lusitaniaj the British exercise of sovereignty over our commerce, the British seizure of international mails. Every one of these shame- ful conditions sprang from our criminal weakness and inaction. Washington saw that France and Germany were glaring at each other across Belgium. A strong man would have told hoth that a move across Belgium would mean war with the United States. It was no time to weigh conventions and split hairs; it was a time to speak and warn. A strong man at Washing- ton would have spoken. A weak man was there and he kept silent. Voila la Belgique ! When Britain issued her first or- der in council, on August 20, 1914, a strong man in the White House Mould have said: "England, you stop this violation of international law, and stop it now/' Why. we feed England! But a weak man was in the White House. He kept silent until December 26, 1911. and spoke in dulcet tones that have not risen above a whisper since. The German submarine warfare, instituted on February 18, 1915, was said to be a retaliation against the starvation campaign of the Brit- ish orders in council. If that is true, the submarines would never have been unleashed, for the orders in council would long since have been abrogated. If these orders were not the real occasion of the submarine warfare, that warfare would still have never started. A strong man in the White House would have said : "The first American passenger drowned in a submarined liner means war." And no American would have been drowned. But our actions in Mexico and the course of our negotiations with Eng- land gave Germany every reason to believe we meant nothing by the lit- tle we said in our note of February protesting the proposed submarine warfare. It was a year before we sent Germany the note we should have sent in Februarv, 1915. Our correspondence with Britain still drags its slow length along. Every one has half a contempt for us, and we are by no means sure how much we respect ourselves. Who is the strong man in Amer- ica ? Who can rescue us from the pit into which we have fallen? There is only one name on American lips — Boosevelt. We recall him in the Spanish- American war. in the work of starting the Panama Canal, in the answer which the fleet gave to the Japanese peril, in his hand- ling of the Venezuela dispute with Germany, in his holding an open door in China. Somehow Ameri- cans feel that if Eoosevelt had been in the White House the whole Euro- pean Avar would have been on a higher plane, international law would still have a meaning, and we should have a place of honor among the nations of the earth. A period of stern preparedness, military, industrial and spiritual, awaits this nation. Americans, no matter what their ancient, broken ties, seek a man to lead them away from the fleshpots of Egypt, out of this wilderness of words which we call a national administration. — May 26, 1916. CHARLES E. HUGHES At last there is prospect that the Republican and Progressive parties can unite upon a common candidate 600 THE GRAYEST 366 DAYS who will represent them both and represent the American people if elected. In these days of political self- seeking, of tumult and shouting, there is something refreshing in the vision of a man so devoted to his high calling of justice, so aloof from the political game, that he not only refuses to participate in it and re- fuses to authorize any one to par- ticipate in his behalf, but even re- fuses to say one word to supply a platform on which he could be judged. If the people wanted Charles E. Hughes, they had to take him as a man. not as a platform. They wanted him enough to take him on these terms. 11 is deeds had been silch that no words were needed to judge him by. It is a good omen for the state of American political sense that in our country the office still knows how to seek the man. Those whose memories go back a . few years know that it was just so in 1906, when Hnghes was made governor. He refused to raise a finger to get the Republican nomi- nation, nor did he authorize any one to raise a finger in his behalf. The bosses did not want him ; he could make them no promises. It was the President of the United Sta1 - Theodore Roosevelt, who made the bosses take Hughes. Robert Fuller says : It required some plain language from President Roosevelt and some diplomatic work on the part of those who repre- sented him to get them to consent to the nomination of Mr. Hughes. During the convention Hug wired to Senator Rage, in reply to an inquiry: I shall accept the nomination without pledge other than to do my duty accord- ing to my conscience. If elected, it will be my ambition to give the state a sane, etheient and honorable administration. When he accepted the nomination he sounded the keynote of his serv- ice as governor : No interest, however, prominent, will receive any consideration except that to which, upon the merits of the case, it may be entitled, when viewed in the light of the supreme interest of the people. He accepted no corporation con- tribution to his campaign fund. The people wanted him. and he was elected governor by a large major- ity, the only Republican elected on the state ticket. It was because of his achievements. As counsel for two legislative committees he had won the right for SO-eent gas and had cleansed the Augean stables of the insurance scandals. And so the bosses had to swallow him. In bis inaugural speech he could truthfully say : I assume the office of governor with- out other ambition than to serve the people of the state. I have not coveted the power, nor do I permit myself to shrink from its possibilities. When Mr. Barnes found himself and his party in possession of this new kind of governor, they made overtures to him to effect a "recon- ciliation.*' He wrote Mr. Barnes the terms on which he would recon- cile: New York, Dec. 3, 1906. My Dear Mr. Barnes — I have been unable to answer your letter before this. I agree with you that we should strive to heal differences, to unify sentiment, and to have the co-operation of the Re- publican press. Important as is efficient organization, the great need of the Re- publican party is to secure a larger measure of public confidence, and to this end the best efforts of the organization should be directed. It is not enough that there should be harmony, but rather there should be harmonious action in an POLITICAL ISSUES; AUTUMN, 1916 601 endeavor to interpret and to meet public sentiment in a just maimer. * * * We must uot simply be receptive and hospitable, but aggressive and convincing in leadership. * * * This is the only way in which, in my judgment, the Republican party can put itself, as you say "in fighting trim." Yours truly. CHARLES E. HUGHES. The same words can appropriate- ly be addressed to the Republican party to-day. This record of Hughes is the reason why the movement for his nomination did not originate in the Republican machine. He is not and cannot be a machine man. It took him four years of office to convince the machine of this state that he ruled, not they. But, at the end of those four years, the ma- chine and the people of the state knew that a new. strange sort of leader had been among them : one who talked little of the glorious principles of democracy, but who daily demonstrated them ; one who did not declaim against the bosses, but quietly suppressed them. Com- pared with the politicians, he was like a groat, silent hydraulic press compared with the chattering of a one horse power donkey engine. He was the hydraulic press ; the power was the volume of universal public approval which he concentrated, upon himself. Against the bosses and the state legislature they controlled he passed the law inaugurating the Public Service commissions, and he obliterated race track gambling. He wiped out corrupt public officials serving the state and set a new standard for official appointments He originated the direct primary bill in this state. The machine de- feated him in that, but he put the idea on the map. In the next elec- tions it was in both party platforms, and now is law. In 1910, after two terms as governor, he accepted an appointment to the Supreme Court of the United States. He was a "presidential possibility," but then, as now, did not seek, but rather shunned, political life. Somehow the record and the qualities it discloses appeal to Amer- icans. Here is a man who, like Roosevelt, knows how to go past in- terests and legislatures who repre- sent them direct to the people them- selves. He has such a habit of do- ing all things well, such a habit of selfless devotion to those he serves, that we rest secure that he will meet the larger needs of the nation just as he has met the large needs of the state. In this vital matter of na- tional preparedness to defend our own. to assure for ourselves justice, honor, peace, the upholding of our rights and those of humanity, we trust Mr. Hughes. We trust him to recognize the new demands of a time when the world seems reverted to —June 12, 1916. The good old simple plan That they shall take who have the power And they shall keep who can. THEODORE ROOSEVELT No one needs to write a valedic- tory for Theodore Roosevelt. He is not gone, but is with us in a deeper, more personal sense than ever. Col. Roosevelt cannot be out of politics, no matter what he may say, for poli- tics means the art of interpreting the hopes and aspirations o( men and leading them to the realization of these hopes and aspirations. Roosevelt made the platform, the 602 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS issues, on which the Republican party will stand, united and victori- ous. Roosevelt reasserted American- ism in a country rent with civil dis- cord and blind partisanship in a European war. Roosevelt developed the issue of preparedness, military, industrial, social and spiritual — de- veloped it in so irresistible a manner that even the national Democratic administration had to adopt it as its own. Roosevelt laid bare, and kept bare, the crime of our conduct in Mexico. From the beginning of his political career the name Roosevelt has meant social justice, or, as he puts it, the square deal. All this is now the Republican creed, and because Roosevelt has made it the creed of Americans it will prevail. Some one said : Let me write the songs of the peo- ple ; I care not who makes their laws. So this master man, wno has laid down the principles of American policy, can afford to watch another carry them out. Great is achievement. But great- er is the willingness to subordinate self to a cause that is larger than self. He withdrew because he had already won. Those who say that Roosevelt withdrew because he was beaten do not know the American people. He is still the first man in the hearts of his countrymen. It is by no means certain that he could not win the election to-day. But no one can for fifteen years combat corrupt business interests, machine politics, pacifism and ma- terialism without accumulating per- sonal hostilities that must now be obliterated in a united fight against a repetition of this present adminis- tration. If a man's principles are to prevail, he can afford to withdraw his individuality. Si monumentum quaeris, circum- spice. (If you seek his monument, look about you.) — June 12, 1916. RALLYING TO HUGHES The Hughes candidacy is steadily uniting all the substantial elements opposed to the Wilson administra- tion. It is gripping the confidence of the people; it has instilled in them the %ope that their national government will shortly be restored to its rightful place of dignity and influence in the parliaments of the world. The country is rallying to a leadership that means peace without momentary menace of war, that means national policies concreted in deeds rather than miraged in words, that expresses and inspires by its clear vision and virile patriotism the real aspirations of the people, and their firm determination to achieve them "with malice toward none, with charily for all." It is not surprising to find these evidences of confidence in Mr. Hughes. The American people have an unerring instinct for the real, the true, among their men and women. They are quick to search out genu- ineness and to honor it above all else. It is the essential quality which they demand of their leaders in times like these. It is in such times, too, that every man's record stands out with North Star bright- ness as the true index to his charac- ter and purposes. It is on the rec- ord, and on it alone, that his country- men base their estimate of him, and give or withhold their confidence. This was notably demonstrated in the nomination and election of Grover Cleveland in 1884; it was even more strikingly proven in Chicago two weeks ago, when the POLITICAL ISSUES; AUTUMN, 1916 603 Eepublican national convention, turning finally from the turmoil of political rivalries, tendered Mr. Hughes a unanimous nomination. Our political history has no prece- dent for such a tribute of confidence in any man. Mr. Hughes was draft- ed for a duty he did not desire,- but which he would not shirk. With prompt decision he undertook ag- gressively his new public services. It was characteristic of him that his campaign began the moment of his acceptance; that the country knew from him with the quickness of a rifle shot that he stood for a "pa- triotism that is single and com- plete," "for an Americanism that knows no ulterior purpose." A man of action, of settled pur- pose, was instantly revealed to the people. Mr. Hughes stood at no cross-roads. He had no moments of timid indecision. He knew what he desired to do and to say. He knew the road he proposed to travel. He could see its end as well as its be- ginning. It had no twists and turns. It led toward no wilderness and into no mires. It cut straight across the clear, open field of collected thought, wise decision and timely action. Mr. Hughes stated his convictions in words that made good the guarantee of his record, and that justified the action of the convention in taking him as its candidate "on faith." In that light, Mr. Hughes now stands before the country. His can- didacy is not the result of fractional rivalry, political bargaining or his own personal ambitions. It is sim- ply and wholly a call to him to take up anew and in a broader field the splendid work he did as "counsel for the people" in the executive chamber at Albany. In those four years he established a standard of govern- ment in this state that is universally accepted as the highest type of ef- ficient and earnest public service. It had courage, independence and single-purposed loyalty to the public interest as its guide and inspiration. It ranked ability above partisanship, service to the people above service to any man or interest. If elected, as we are confident he will be, Mr. Hughes as President will follow the same course he pursued as governor. He will serve his party best by serv- ing his country best. That is why he should be chosen. — June 26, 1916. MR. HUGHES If ever a man should feel the in- spiration and uplift of a national call, it is Charles Evans Hughes. His nomination was something unique for a national convention which met, as national conventions do, to trade votes and balance fa- vorite sons. The great current of our need swept away their little plans and imposed upon them a man who cares nothing for votes, favor- ite sons, political creeds and po- litical issues. The people were lost in a wilder- ness of national policy and, inept as our conventions are in the art of registering what the people want, the people forced this imperfect in- strument to do their will. They chose a man without political adherents, with no authorized representative at Chicago, a man who would not even indicate he would accept the nomination if it was offered him. ISTo American was ever before nomi- nated for President with so little en- couragement on his part. The office of President had to go about seek- ing the man. 604 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS There are two reasons why Mr. Hughes took this course. The minor reason was his respect for the high dignity of his position as Supreme Court justice. Yet he could at any moment have resigned his office, gone into- the fight and been certain of nomination. He knew that. His major reason for silence was to keep himself free from the pledges that are bound up with office seeking. He will take the President's chair free of obligation to any men or group of men or interests, responsi- ble only to his conscience and the people he serves. It is a proud position and, under the circum- stances Mr. Hughes has made, in- comparably the most powerful posi- tion in the world. How did the people dare to select a man who had not pronounced him- self upon the issues of the day? It is because they have had over three years of the most glorious and high sounding pronouncements from an administration that never gets be- yond pronouncing. The American people want less diction and more action. So they have turned to a man whom they have learned to ex- pect to do things. When Mr. Hughes was through acting as special counsel for a leg- islative committee in New York state, the public in this city had 80-cent gas. When he was through acting as special counsel for another legislative committee, the state and the country knew the full extent of the abuses which insurance com- panies had perpetrated with the peo- ple's money, and laws drafted by Mr. Hughes were passed which made a repetition of those abuses impossible. When the people of this state wanted Mr. Hughes for governor they had to draft him for the ser- vice just as he has been drafted for a higher office to-day. Against the bosses controlling the legislature, Gov. Hughes abolished race track gambling and passed the Public Service Commission Bill. He has a habit of going direct to the people with his issues and theirs. All honest men of all parties supported him, for he was the governor of New York, not just a Republican gov- ernor. So in November honest men of all parties will make Mr. Hughes President and he will be not merely a Republican President. The issues to-day transcend party lines. They are: 1. Shall we have union or civil strife at home? Shall we present a united or a broken front to other countries? This is the issue of Americanism. 2. Shall we have a form of military, industrial and spiritual preparedness which will make us strong to defend the right? This is the issue of preparedness. 3. Shall we unswervingly uphold the rights of neutral nations and humanity in this war and keep it upon the high plane which international law prescribes? This is the issue of international law. 4. Shall we face the facts in Mexico or not? Shall we do the disinterested service we did in Cuba and free our border and the people of Mexico of the curse of bandit governments? This is the Mexican issue. Americanism, preparedness, inter- national law, Mexico — these are our immediate problems. Our experi- ence, our hearts and our minds tell us that Hughes will help us solve them. In the solving of them we shall develop that national strength and that national unity which, under Hughes's leadership, will en- able us to play our part at the peace conference and to effect those meas- ures of social justice and industrial efficiency which will press for set- POLITICAL ISSUES; AUTUMN, 1916 605 tlement after the war. — June 27, 1916. HUGHES THE TRUE PRO- GRESSIVE LEADER By Henry L. Stoddard If there is any Progressive who does not see a triumph for progres- sivism in the Hughes candidacy he must be one whose conception of the Progressive party is that it is solely a machine for making Col. Roosevelt a perpetual candidate for the presi- dency, regardless of everything — the colonePs own wishes included. No governor of this state, no gov- ernor of any eastern state, has a record that squares so absolutely to Progressive principles as does the Hughes record, from his fight for a Public Service Commission to his fierce struggle for direct primaries. Between those two most conspicuous examples of his progressivism are a score of lesser matters of legislation and a list of appointees to public of- fice that has not been equaled for capacity or integrity by an}^ succes- sor. Had Eoosevelt died before the Chicago convention met, or had his_ name been absolutely out of con- sideration, the first name to occur to Progressives as a fitting successor to him would have been that of Mr. Hughes. The Hughes record would have compelled that recognition. Has any one ever heard any re- actionary Republican claim Hughes as the candidate of his choice? Has any one heard any wild shouts of joy from one William Barnes, Jr., over the result at Chicago? The fact is that reactionary Re- publicans met at Chicago two weeks ago the defeat which they averted four years ago by using the machin- ery of the party organization to thwart the will of the party pri- maries. Mr. Hughes was not the personal choice of the old-type Re- publican leaders. He was not the candidate they wanted; he was the candidate they had to have. They were as much in control of the recent convention as they were of the 1912 gathering, but they had better con- trol of their senses. They knew they could not repeat their old tactics. They realized that this time they had to recognize the party will, and take chances with a candidate not of their class. They did not dare turn down the Roose- velt demand without giving the country a Progressive in record and purpose. Hence they picked as their nominee the only man who had a chance to get the Progressive party indorsement, and whose record they knew would compel such indorse- ment, provided Colonel Roosevelt did not run on the Progressive ticket. With all their bitter an- tagonism to Roosevelt, they knew down deep in their hearts that he was too much a patriot in this crisis to stand in the way of union against Wilson. They knew he had twice forced the nomination of Hughes for gov- ernor; they knew — some of them knew — that Hughes would have been Roosevelt's choice as his successor in the White House in 1908, instead of Taft, but for matters that need not now be recalled ; and they knew that if Hughes had been off the bench last winter and campaigning for the nomination he would have had Roosevelt's support. In brief, they knew that Hughes's record in public office was the kind 606 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS that Roosevelt could whole-heartedly indorse. Hughes's enforced silence on the big issue of the day was the one bar to accepting him. That bar removed, the colonel promptly re- sponded. The only reason that any Progres- sive can now give for opposing Hughes is the illogical one that he prefers the election of the man against whom the whole Roosevelt- Progressive light has been waged. Mr. Hughes stands squarely on the platform adopted by the Progressive convention. That document is anti- Wilson from top to bottom. Every line of it vibrates with intense op- position to the Wilson administra- tion. It was adopted with enthusi- astic unanimity by the Progressive convention. If the delegates meant what they said in it, how can they now take any step calculated to keep Wilson four years more in the White House?— -June 29, 1016 THE PLIGHT OF WILSONS DIPLOMACY No one can examine the situation of our State department, in its Euro- pean diplomacy, without a certain feeling of regret and sadness. Somehow it seems to mean less to be an American than it did under Jefferson, Seward, Olney, John Hay. , There are said to be three types of powers in the family of nations. One type includes those nations whose sovereign rights are a mere fiction, nations which are regarded or disregarded as pleases the large and small real powers of the world. In this first type of nations we may reckon China. Persia and Colombia. The second type includes those lesser powers whose sovereign rights are recognized and regarded by all their fellows except by the very greatest in times of their great stress. Then the mighty powers, for the allotment of their selfish ends, tram- ple upon the rights of those lesser powers without scruple. To the sec- ond type belong Belgium, Holland and Greece. There is a third type of powers so majestic, so compelling of awe and respect, that their sovereign rights are respected by great and small in any and all circumstances. These are powers of the first rank ; indeed, this immunity from insult is the badge of such rank. Among these first-class powers we reckon Great Britain, Russia, Germany, Austria, France, Japan. Those who love America and yet face the facts of the last two years find it hard competently to classify their country among the nations of the world. We have had open in- sults from three nations : Mexico, Germany, England. In none of the cases have we exacted reparation or attained an honorable and lasting settlement. At Tampico our flag was insulted. We sent an expeditionary force to Vera Cruz to exact apology for the insult. JS"o apology came. Very well. We retaliated by withdrawing our expedition. Under pretext of shunning contact with the morals of Huerta, the strong man of Mexico, we made common cause with that detestable murderer and adulterer, Villa. Then Carranza catches our fancy. We turn to him. Villa is of- fended and raids our border to pil- lage and murder. We are enraged. We send Pershing to Mexico to get Villa dead or alive. Our presence annoys Carranza. He waylays a cavalry troop, kills part of the men and marches the others through the POLITICAL ISSUES; AUTUMN", 1916 607 Mexican populace into Chihuahua jail. He is very annoyed. Very well. We withdraw Pershing and agree with Carranza to name six ar- bitrators who will determine which of us was the offender. However we may class ourselves, there is no doubt that the Mexicans reckon us of the type with China and Persia and Colombia, the type which even little nations may affront at pleas- ure. Who can blame the Mexicans? Germany — on May 7, 1915, the Lusitania was sunk, an inevitable result of the submarine decree pro- nounced to us on the preceding Feb- ruary 4. It was nearly a year before we had from Germany the pledge that we could have had by saying on May 8, 1915, the same strong words we finally said. Nor does any intelligent person imagine that the German settlement is a permanent one. Germany's surrender was un- conditional, but her note made the permanence of her order leashing the submarine depend upon our will- ingness to make England also return to the limits, of law. Nor can any thinking man call Germany unrea- sonable in her attitude. The Ger- man crisis is merely postponed. It is not removed. England — We protest against her unexampled expansion of the con- traband list. She answers by put- ting even raw cotton on that list. We demonstrate in an eloquent note that Great Britain has no right to hold up our shipments to Germany via neutral countries. She answers by an order in council announcing that she will seize all German trade in whichever direction moving and by whatever route. Very well. The State department retaliates by ap- pointing two foreign trade advisers to transmit from the British ambas- sador to American exporters how they may ship to neutral countries without incurring Great Britain's suspicion that the goods are destined for Germany. We protest against violating private letters taken out of mail sacks found on steamers stopped on the high seas. Great Britain says she must open the let- ters to look for rubber in them, rubber being sent to Germany. Very well, we say, but please stop de- stroying the letters after you have opened them and card-indexed their business contents. We protect against a vague trading-with-the- enemy act. England accommodates us by making it specific, and names eighty American firms or citizens who are to be outcasts in the inter- national world; no one is to dare to deal with them. How does England classify us? With China? Or are we in a new classification all our own? It is not merely a matter of per- sonal or national pride, of our wish- ing as individuals and as a nation to hold our heads high. The issue goes far deeper than that. We are betraying not only ourselves and our traditions, but we are also betray- ing the future of the whole world. International law emerges from each war as strong as the strongest neu- tral has been willing or able to en- force it during the war. In great conflicts of the past century Great Britain has been a neutral. She faithfully performed the task of up- holding the law of nations. Upon us in this war that duty fell. In our hearts we all know, and history will tell, how we have performed it. We have made new international law. In future wars there will al- ways be a dominant sea power. That sea power may now indis- 608 THE GKAVEST 366 DAYS criminately stop what commerce it chooses upon the high seas regard- less of all previous laws of contra- band or blockade. That sea power may rifle and dump into the sea in- ternational mails all over the world. That power may issue orders in council that take away the liveli- hood of neutral citizens who have simply done what their government told them was lawful to do. That sea power may, in all likelihood, torpedo and sink unarmed merchant vessels with their passengers and crews. For the last word in the sub- marine controversy has not been spoken, and we shall not permanent- ly be able to grant to Great Britain alone the right to "develop" inter- national law. Because of the future danger of international commerce in war time, and because there will always be the possibility of wars, nations in peace will not dare become depend- ent upon an oversea source of sup- ply for any necessity of life. Viewed in this aspect, the "development" of international law in which we have participated will prove a blow to our export trade which all political speeches, all marshaling of statis- tics will not mitigate. International confidence and trust, the basis of trade, is being undermined. These are the plain recorded facts of two years of Democratic diplo- macy. It will not be easy for Demo- cratic orators in the coming cam- paign so to adorn these facts as to get large comfort out of the admin- istration's achievements in the field of diplomacy. — July 24, 1916. THE SOUTHERN MILITIA The Chicago Tribune has recently published a remarkable compilation of the numbers of militia of each state in the Union, and the place at which that militia is stationed. The remarkable thing about the tabula- tion is that, outside of the border states themselves, the only southern state to have any troops on the Bio Grande is Virginia. Virginia has 2,000 troops on the border and 2,000 in mobilization camps at home. The entire militia of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas is in mobilization camps at home. The border forces are from northern and western states. For example, New York has 16,000 troops on the border and 6,000 troops mobilized at home. Il- linois has 11,000 troops on the bor- der and 2,000 at home. It is of course not true that politi- cal influence is being used to spare the southern troops from service while their brothers in the North, at very great inconvenience to them- selves and great distress to their families, have gone to the front. The men in the South are acclimated to the very heat which is now so dis- tressing to the northern boys down there. There must be some very se- rious reason for the failure of the entire South to do its share, some such reason as lack of training, lack of equipment or impossibility of re- cruiting the regiments up to the minimum required by the War de- partment before it will send them to the border. If the National Guard is to be the force upon which we are to rely in time of emergency, we ought to be able to count on it in every state of the Union, and we ought to know where the weak points are and why they are weak. — July 27, 1916. POLITICAL ISSUES; AUTUMN, 1916 609 MR. HUGHES ACCEPTS Those who heard Mr. Hughes ac- cept the Kepublican nomination at- tended more than a political meet- ing. They participated in a national event. They heard a brilliant speech. It was not the speech of a politician, unless a politician be one who un- derstands wise policies for the na- tion. In its unerring logic, its un- sparing exposure of the bankrupt Wilson administration, it was the speech of a great thinker. In its close touch with the warm, pulsat- ing desires of us Americans it be- trayed the man of the people. In its wide grasp of the staggering problems of war and peace it dis- closed the man of affairs. In Hughes's reply we miss some of the tropical undergrowth of Wil- sonian rhetoric, but we are thereby betrayed into no pitfalls. The ground is firm beneath our feet. The words of Hughes lack those fairy Wilsonian pictures, and they lack the Wilsonian mirages which these last four years have undermined our faith in words. Hughes promises us a clean sweep in the administration of our affairs at home and abroad. He promises us peace, honor, military and indus- trial preparedness, efficiency in gov- ernment, a firm policy in Mexico, discharge of our obligations in the Philippines; a rounded neutral pro- gramme upon which to unite our composite nation in pure American- ism. No one of these desirable things do we possess now. Will he perform as he promises? We judge him by his record as our governor. His word was his deed. The Democrats by word or solemn pledge in their party platform promised us internal harmony, honor abroad, industrial and military pre- paredness, efficiency in government, a programme to unite us in Ameri- canism. No one of these promises has been redeemed. Shall we turn to him who in the past has performed what he has promised or to him who has constantly promised what he never performed? Terrible is Hughes's picture of the record for which the Democratic party must answer. They must an- swer for the withdrawal of our am- bassadors from Latin-American countries, like Santo Domingo, to make way for "deserving Demo- crats." They must answer for Bryan and Daniels in the cabinet, for the withdrawal of Herrick from France and Henry Wilson from Mexico, for the strange adventures of John Lind as our representative with Huerta and William Bayard Hale at the court of Villa. The Democratic party must an- swer for the fiascos at Tampico and Vera Cruz and — because their policy could not avoid war — for the trage- dies at Columbus and Carrizal. They will answer for the nameless scores of American men and women in- sulted, robbed and outraged. The Democrats will answer at the polls for the vacillation and weak- ness of our policy toward Germany, a policy that cost us the lives on the Lusitania, Arabic and Ancona before the President would heed the na- tion's mandate and speak. The Democrats will answer for the vacuity of our correspondence with England, a correspondence so fatuous that to-day we are com- mitted to acquiescence in the aboli- tion of freedom of the mails, acqui- escence in a blockade which we have diplomantically described as "in- 610 THE GRAVEST 366 DAYS effective, illegal and indefensible," acquiescence in an orgy of British censorship of our telegrams, letters, freight shipments — nay, our indi- vidual commercial lives — all for the purpose of enforcing that blockade. The Democrats will answer for the inanities of their preparedness policy. They will explain the Presi- dent's acedemic assurances of our safety in December, 1914; his wild call to arms a year later, his gath- ering of Garrison's volunteer army and his subservient abandonment of the plan and Garrison too. They must answer for the menace in the painful revelations of our national guard, upon which they chose to de- pend. But the Hughes address was not a mere clearing of the wreck of Demo- cratic administration. He designs the building that is to take its place. Last week Vance McCormick, chair- man of the Democratic national committee, issued this challenge: Let them who are out and who want to get in tell what they would have done if they had been in the President's place. Mr. McCormick has his wish. If he will read Mr. Hughes' speech he will learn what Hughes would have done at each juncture of Wilson's breakdown. Further, he will read what Hughes proposes to do in the future. He will protect our citizens and property on land and sea, at home and abroad. He will have us perform our function as guardians of international law. He will use the protective tariff policy to further industry, attain economic indepen- dence and shield American workmen from the over-competition of an en- ergized Europe after the war. He will have a merchant marine by gov- ernment aid, not by government competition. This is only to encour- age Mr. McCormick to read the ad- dress. It is full of meat. — Aug. 2, 1916. THE DEMOCRATIC ANSWER TO MR. HUGHES'S ACCEPT- ANCE SPEECH On Saturday Senator Lewis of Illinois undertook to answer Mr. Hughes's scathing arraignment of the Democratic administration in its Mexican policy. On August 3 Sen- ator Lewis conferred with the Pres- ident and announced that on the following day he would answer the charges in Mr. Hughes's speech. The Lewis answer in the Senate was to be the answer of the administra- tion, as was indicated by the dis- patches from Washington; for ex- ample, this to the New York World, dated August 3 : Senator Lewis had a long talk with the President to-day, and it is expected that his remarks will be regarded as voicing the sentiments of the White House. He will address himself par- ticularly to the Mexican situation. There was a solemnity in the form and matter of Senator Lewis's oration which mirrored the high re- sponsibility he felt. In the Congres- sional Record his words bear the caption : "Eeply to Mr. Hughes's Ac- ceptance Address." All in all, what Senator Lewis said must be taken very seriously indeed. It deserves the widest circulation. Washington papers indicated that the speech would be sent over the country by the Democratic campaign commit- tee. If the Democratic campaign committee by any chance omits this patriotic duty the Republican cam- paign committee should perform it. POLITICAL ISSUES; AUTUMN, 1916 611 Mr. Hughes charged the govern- ment with deserting Americans with property interests in Mexico and de- nied that the Democrats could meet the charge by villifying the persons they had refused to protect. Read Senator Lewis's eulogy of Ameri- cans who went down to help develop Mexico : The mining buccaneers of the moun- tains, the land pirates of the plains, pillagers of the peons, oppressors of lib- erty, despoilers of homes, murderers of justice, come all of you ; at last there is found for you a house in which ye are worshiped as gods and at whose altars the innocents are to be sacrificed for you to make an election holiday. It is your father's house — the Republican party, and there you shall burn incense to the worship of despots and despoilers. the new high priests of modern repub- licanism, headed now by the newly ap- pointed chief of this political hierarchy — nominee of a Republican convention for President of the United States — Charles Evans Hughes. The "mining buccaneers" are the American copper companies who opened mines in Mexico and took the wretched peons away from land slavery, paid them the wages of free men, established towns with schools to educate their children, and paid taxes to the Mexican government — when there was one and when there was not. Among the "land pirates of the plains" are American oil com- panies that took tens of thousands of Mexican laborers, paid them nearly as many dollars as they had earned in cents before, made Mexi- can merchants prosperous by the trade of the enriched workmen, created modern towns in the wilder- ness. Ask the Mexicans who have had opportunity to work for these American malefactors. These Mex- icans will tell you that the Ameri- can "oppressors of liberty" brought them the only freedom they ever knew— the freedom to work and prosper. They would tell that the only freedom taken away from them was the freedom to starve. Senator Lewis then turns to the question of Huerta vs. Villa. He justifies the repudiation of Huerta on moral grounds. He then pro- ceeds to denounce the Republican Senators for being unwilling to support the President in his cham- pioning of Villa. Had Congress only unitedly stood with the Presi- dent for Villa, all would have been well. Every encouragement (to Villa) that could be given without the violation of our duty was afforded. The object of the United States was to keep the hands of power off of Mexico ; let it work out its own destiny through the agencies of its own creation, as was the process of the government of republics. Villa was not acquiesced in by all of Mexico. He was opposed in his own land. Frus- trated by those whose assumption of con- trol he sought to dispute, and which he claimed had for its object the robbing of the poor, for whom he spoke, the rul- ing classes of Mexico and certain busi- ness interests all combined against him — under what righteous claim I know not. But this I do know, that had the leaders of the Republican party in Con- gress given to the Democratic President support in this foreign policy and an- nounced that as the President had recog- nized Villa as a test and trial to bring forth through him order, and had they demanded united obedience in America to this effort of the President as one from the highest authority and from the only authority that was vested with priv- ilege of deciding the question, there would have been a different result from what ensued. Mexico would have seen that all the United States was behind the President. In so far as the Republican Sena- tors prevented a closer alliance with the infamous Villa, it is a record of which they may well be proud, and upon which their party may safetly stand, in November. 612 THE GEAVEST 366 DAYS The peroration of Senator Lewis's speech was a true climax : Sir. there, too, stands Mexico. As she has been, so shall she remain, the stepdaughter of our republic. Though prostrate by oppression, stripped by her despoilers, and profaned by her ravish- ers, she shall still be the charge and the care of her protecting mother. We take her by the hand, we bring her to her feet, bid her take now hope to the days when through our aid. through the encouragement of civilization, by the agency of humanity and through the sanctity of religion, she shall inherit freedom as her state, liberty as her jus- tice, and to her children transmit the blessing of a free country, living under a constitution guaranteeing the freedom of press, the freedom of man. the free- dom of worship. Upon these she will build anew to the splendor of her fu- ture, ami be welcomed in the family of nations as a republic purified Through sacrifice and through the aid and friend- ship of the United States to be at peace with her children and sovereign of her nation. M ex i c o, prostrate, despoiled, stripped, profaned and ravished, may well wish that her "protecting mother" would he off and her place taken hv some good Samaritan who would help her defend herself against the alternating sets of ban- dits who prostrate, despoil, strip, profane and ravish her. Senator Lewis has presented a strange ease for his Democratic clients. His ease is to arraign the American property owners who have been developing Mexican resources atul dared asked protection from bandits in a country whose govern- ment, broken down by our opposi- tion io 1 Inert a. could give no pro- tection. His ease is to extol the Democratic liaison with Villa and glorify the pacific patience of a "protecting mother" before whose eyes her beloved stepdaughter. Mex- ico, was repeatedly outraged. — Aug- ust 9, 1916. THE PRESIDENTS CATASTROPHE The President now has the coun- try in a mess from which he offers extrication by passage of a law- forcing the railroads to accept pre- cisely what they have refused : the President's own individual settle- ment of the railroad dispute. Let every one keep the facts clear in mind. When the President called the brotherhoods and the railroad managers to Washington the broth- erhoods were asking to have their normal working day reduced from ten to eight hours, with no reduc- tion in pay. They were asking for one and one-half times their regular hourly pay when they work over eight hours. The railroads refused these demands and in return de- manded that the men no longer — as at present — get a full day's pay, no matter how few hours they may be in service. The railroads came to Washing- ton offering to submit all demands to arbitration, or even to withdraw their demands and submit to the decision of an arbitration board re- garding the men's demands alone. The men came to Washington an- nouncing that they would accept no arbitration of the main issue: their desire for ten hours' pay for eight hours' work. Their frankly avowed reason was that they had not fared satisfactorily, to themselves, in past arbitrations. The President says that it was then impossible for him to get arbi- tration. He never tried. With no hesitation or investigation, follow- POLITICAL ISSUES: AUTUMN: 1916 61; ing no counsel but his own, he asked the men to accept ten hours' pay for eight hours' work and ar- bitrate the question of 150 per cent, pay for all work over eight hours. Of course, they accepted : he offered them 95 per cent, of their demands. The great weight of his office was thrown in one side of the scale. That was his injustice to the rail- roads. He told the railroads, if they would yield to this 95 per cent, of the men's demands, that he would use his influence to get them a raise in freight rates : that is. he offered to pay with at least 850.000.000 of our money for the daily two hours of work which the men refuse to perform for present pay. That was the President's injustice to us. the public. We were given no chance to be heard. The railroads refused the offer. They feared the ramifications of the eight-hour day: thev clun<: to the principle of arbitration, the grant- ing of labor's demands because of investigation, not because of the mere threat of force. They feared that shippers would not submit to a $50,000,000 rate increase. Fortified by the President's allw ance. by his announcement that it was useless to try for arbitration, the 640 brotherhood chairmen hur- ried home, with strike orders in their pockets, dated September -t. Mr. Wilson goes to Congress. He ears as an advoc. f the brotherhoods. He forecasts a sue- - ike: The freight service throughout the Fnited States must stand still until their (.the men's 1 places are filled: if, ina it should prove p